LINE Targets US Residents With New Crypto Exchange

Japanese tech company LINE wants to provide U.S. traders a new dollar gateway to cryptocurrencies with a new exchange.

The firm best known for its messaging platform announced Thursday its BITFRONT exchange will form the basis for a cryptocurrency trading ecosystem that will also provide users with new trading pairs against the U.S. dollar. The new U.S.-based platform differs from LINE's first exchange, BITBOX, which only offered crypto-to-crypto trading pairs and is based in Singapore, and Bitmax, which only serves Japanese residents.

"This is a major leap toward achieving the mass adoption of blockchain," said Youngsu Ko, LVC Corporation chief executive. "As the most trusted global digital currency exchange, we will continue to make blockchain and cryptocurrency more accessible to our users."

BITFRONT will be run by the U.S. subsidiary of LVC Corporation, the group subsidiary responsible for LINE's blockchain and cryptocurrency-related business operations. The platform will be open to users from around the world, excluding those from Japan as well as few select U.S. states.

The first five supported digital assets will be LINE's own cryptocurrency LINK (no relation to Chainlink), as well as bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH) and tether (USDT). Users will be able to add USD through a bank account integration. The exchange says it will maintain tight spreads and deep liquidity by linking its orderbook to that of other cryptocurrency exchanges.