Cryptocurrency Spot Trading Now Available Through Rakuten Wallet
- Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash can now be traded against the Japanese Yen through Rakuten Wallet.
- The company has claimed that there will be no fees for making trades or deposits and that its services will be available 24 hours a day.
Rakuten Wallet, a subsidiary of Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten, is now offering spot trading for three major cryptocurrencies, the company announced in a press release on 19 August.
According to the press release, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) can now be traded against the Japanese Yen through a mobile Android app, which was released the same day. iPhone users do not need to worry though, as the company is planning to announce the release date of its iOS app in early September. From the press release we can see that the firm is trying to provide a safe and secure way for its customers to make cryptocurrency transactions:
“Rakuten Wallet separates money deposited by customers from the company’s own funds, managing the assets in trust accounts provided by Rakuten Trust Co., Ltd., the trust company of Rakuten Group. Rakuten Trust manages those trust assets through Rakuten Bank, Ltd. savings accounts.”
Other security methods have also been implemented by the firm in order to keep their user’s funds safe. For instance, in order to minimize the risk of hacking, all crypto assets owned by its customers will be held in cold wallets. Additionally, not only will private keys be managed through a multisignature scheme, but two-step authentication will be required for logging in, and for withdrawing crypto assets and money.
The company has also claimed that there will be no fees for making trades or deposits, and that its services will be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, excluding maintenance times. Withdrawals are a different thing though, with Rakuten Wallet charging 300 Yen for fiat withdrawals, 0.001 BTC for Bitcoin, 0.01 ETH for Ethereum, and 0.01 BCH for Bitcoin Cash.
Hopefully, all of the security measures that Rakuten Wallet has taken will help avoid the fate of Bitpoint, another Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, which was hacked last month. The exchange later promised to reimburse the 50,000 affected users in crypto.
- The Japanese exchange has adopted new AML measures in order to comply with the Japanese governments implementation of FATF’s Travel Rule.
- Transaction restrictions will be applied to 21 countries that follow the Travel Rule, though transfers to countries not on the list will still be supported.
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- There is still no official date for when Binance will re-enter the Japanese market, but Sakura Exchange BitCoin (SEBC) will close doors on 31 May, and reopen as Binance Japan sometime after June.
- Customers in Japan who wished to continue using the exchange under the Binance name will have to undergo new identity verification and KYC checks.
- The largest crypto options exchange, Deribit, will launch zero-fee spot trading for ETH/BTC, ETH/USDC, and BTC/USDC on 24 April.
- The move comes only a month after crypto exchange Binance terminated its own zero-fee trading campaign for 13 trading pairs.