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Topic: Japanese Retail Giant Rakuten Hints at Bitcoin Acceptance (Read 1099 times)
ebay, amazon...hello? are you listening ?
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Norway is a good example of a country that isn't
At the moment, but we are so chained to the petro-economy that should the oil-prices take a big fall or another form of energy become dominant we would crash hard.
Wow this could be great. I've wondered how much money from Japan has been put into Bitcoin, seems like they naturally would be interested being a very technologically advanced country. But, him saying "sooner or later" doesn't exactly sound like he's in a hurry to start accepting Bitcoin.
This is just a start in the bitcoin revolution. More and more retailers are going to accept bitcoin soon. Hope they will hold on to them and not dump them on exchanges immediately.
what about the coin with the japanese dog logo?
their economy is screwed too, so bitcoin is a natural alternative
Who's economy ISN'T screwed at time time? I would have thought mtgox being in Japan would have woken up a lot of these dormant money already.
most countries are screwedNorway is a good example of a country that isn't
I note particular Japan though as on eof most indebted countries in World and been in trouble decades with no sign of abating.
add to that fukushima, their energy problems, foodchain screwed and China breathing down neck
they need to be thinking outside box as bitcoin been around 5 years already
their economy is screwed too, so bitcoin is a natural alternative
Who's economy ISN'T screwed at time time? I would have thought mtgox being in Japan would have woken up a lot of these dormant money already.
Quote
Another potentially interesting angle is that Rakuten has its own bank, offers credit cards, has its own securities brokerage and runs the e-cash network of RFID-chip cards known as Edy.
Mikitani made the comments in a speech (unofficial translation) to several of Rakuten’s merchants in Fukuoka, saying:
“The Internet revolution is accelerating this year and I imagine that, sooner or later, Rakuten will start accepting money in the form of bitcoin (an internet virtual currency).”
Rakuten has its finger in many major pies. It is regarded as a global competitor to Amazon.com, and Mikitani himself is an Internet business pioneer often referred to as ‘Japan’s Jeff Bezos’. It also manages a professional baseball team, the Rakuten Eagles, which last year won the Japan Series.
Mikitani often engages in a fierce business rivalry with fellow entrepreneur Masayoshi Son of mobile phone carrier Softbank, with the two regularly seeking out ways to disrupt Japan’s often conservative corporate status quo.
The company’s online marketplace, Rakuten Ichiba (literally ‘Rakuten marketplace’), has over 40,000 independent merchant members. According to Wikipedia, its revenues in 2012 reached $4.63bn.
Going global
The company is further famous for its aggressive acquisition policy, traveling the world to buy other e-commerce sites including Play.com, Buy.com (for $250m in cash in 2010), and messaging app Viber in February this year for $900m.
It has also bought a stake in Pinterest, and purchased e-book company Kobo, whose devices it markets and sells in Japan, again in direct competition with Amazon.com.
Were Rakuten to begin accepting bitcoin, whether sooner or later, virtually every kind of consumer product would potentially be available for purchase with bitcoin in Japan. Often seen as another Holy Grail for digital currency, neither it nor CEO Mikitani has previously hinted publicly the option might be considered.
Mikitani made the comments in a speech (unofficial translation) to several of Rakuten’s merchants in Fukuoka, saying:
“The Internet revolution is accelerating this year and I imagine that, sooner or later, Rakuten will start accepting money in the form of bitcoin (an internet virtual currency).”
Rakuten has its finger in many major pies. It is regarded as a global competitor to Amazon.com, and Mikitani himself is an Internet business pioneer often referred to as ‘Japan’s Jeff Bezos’. It also manages a professional baseball team, the Rakuten Eagles, which last year won the Japan Series.
Mikitani often engages in a fierce business rivalry with fellow entrepreneur Masayoshi Son of mobile phone carrier Softbank, with the two regularly seeking out ways to disrupt Japan’s often conservative corporate status quo.
The company’s online marketplace, Rakuten Ichiba (literally ‘Rakuten marketplace’), has over 40,000 independent merchant members. According to Wikipedia, its revenues in 2012 reached $4.63bn.
Going global
The company is further famous for its aggressive acquisition policy, traveling the world to buy other e-commerce sites including Play.com, Buy.com (for $250m in cash in 2010), and messaging app Viber in February this year for $900m.
It has also bought a stake in Pinterest, and purchased e-book company Kobo, whose devices it markets and sells in Japan, again in direct competition with Amazon.com.
Were Rakuten to begin accepting bitcoin, whether sooner or later, virtually every kind of consumer product would potentially be available for purchase with bitcoin in Japan. Often seen as another Holy Grail for digital currency, neither it nor CEO Mikitani has previously hinted publicly the option might be considered.
this is the next step wee were waiting for
normally tech savvy on the money Japanese are asleep at the wheel when it comes to bitcoin in terms of it's population
this will wake them up
their economy is screwed too, so bitcoin is a natural alternative
That's nice I'll be honest I'm only really familiar with Uniclo and Book Off
But this is cool as well.
That is a good deal though a lot of merchants ^_^
The company’s online marketplace, Rakuten Ichiba (literally ‘Rakuten marketplace’), has over 40,000 independent merchant members. According to Wikipedia, its revenues in 2012 reached $4.63bn.
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