Messaging Firm LINE Makes Own Token Available to Japanese Traders for First Time

The blockchain subsidiary of messaging app giant LINE has made its native token available to Japan-based traders for the first time.

• Announced Thursday, BitMax – operated by LINE's LVC Corporation – has become the first crypto exchange in Japan to offer link (LN).
• The token was previously listed on LVC's U.S. exchange Bitfront, which denies access to Japanese traders.
• The token was launched as a rewards incentive in 2018 for LINE's over 84 million monthly active users, per the company's figures.
• The company aims to develop an ecosystem in which users of services over LINE's network are rewarded in LN tokens for using decentralized apps, or dapps.
• LINK is not to be confused with decentralized oracle network Chainlink's token of the same name (and goes by the ticker symbol LINK).
• LINE's token was previously issued via the firm's proprietary private blockchain network and was listed on the Bitfront exchange (formerly Bitbox) back in August 2018.
• The token joins five other listed crypto assets on BitMax including bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), XRP (XRP), bitcoin cash (BCH) and litecoin (LTC).
• LVC is the operator of LINE's crypto asset and blockchain-related businesses.
• It launched the BitMax exchange after being awarded a license by Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) on Sept. 6, 2019.