- LINE, a Japanese app, is building a platform for central bank digital currencies.
- The messaging service is discussing the project with other Asian countries.
LINE, a Japanese mobile messaging app, is creating a platform for central bank digital currencies (CBDC).
Sources claim that the Tokyo-based company intends to back the development of a personalized CBDC. It is currently discussing the implementation of its CBDC programme with various central banks in leading Asian countries. LINE representatives said that they could not reveal the countries that are thinking about using the platform.
An official from the Japanese service told Cointelegraph that the company intends to “provide a blockchain platform that is fit for CBDCs based on LINE blockchain.”
LINE promotes cryptocurrencies
The technology giant has demonstrated an interest in the crypto and blockchain industry. In August 2020, it initiated Bitmax, a blockchain development platform.
Earlier in the year, LINE introduced BITFRONT, a worldwide digital currency exchange based in the United States. BITFRONT offers a fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-crypto market for the U.S. dollar.
The messaging service has its currency, Link, but it is not accessible in the Japanese or U.S market due to Japanese laws. As a result, LINE produced its exchange BITBOX in 2018. The then exchange was a crypto-to-crypto exchange located in Singapore. BITBOX allowed users to trade in U.S. dollars by connecting their bank account.
The Tokyo-based service is owned by Naver, a Korean company that initiated the service after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The messaging app has almost 2,500 employees; roughly 1,000 of them are based in Japan.
In addition to a messaging service, the technology giant offers games, a music streaming service in Japan and Thailand, and many more services.
Although the Japanese app does not have a wide userbase like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, it has developed several trends.
