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Japan's largest second-hand e-commerce platform, Mercari, now accepts Bitcoin payments!
According to a report by Nikkei Asia, the Japanese second-hand e-commerce platform Mercari will start accepting Bitcoin payments from June this year. The cryptocurrency subsidiary of Mercari, Melcoin, will handle Bitcoin payment-related services and convert all Bitcoin payments into Japanese yen. This means that while buyers can choose to pay with Bitcoin, sellers will receive fiat currency.
Items on the Mercari platform will not be priced in Bitcoin; all items for sale will be priced in Japanese yen. However, when users check out on the Mercari platform, they will have the option to choose Bitcoin as the payment method.
Mercari, founded in 2013, is Japan's largest second-hand e-commerce platform. It went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Mothers market in 2018, raising over 110 billion yen, marking Japan's largest IPO that year. As of July 2023, Mercari has 22 million monthly active users.
In recent months, Mercari has launched various cryptocurrency-related products, including the Mercari Bitcoin cryptocurrency trading service, allowing users to buy and sell Bitcoin using sales revenue on the platform. The Mercari Bitcoin platform also features a loyalty points system, allowing users to redeem Bitcoin using loyalty points.
It's worth noting that Japan's e-commerce platforms have become a new channel for users adopting Bitcoin. Rakuten, another major Japanese e-commerce giant, entered the cryptocurrency space even earlier than Mercari. Rakuten has its Rakuten Wallet cryptocurrency trading service and has integrated its loyalty points program with the cryptocurrency division, allowing users to convert points into cryptocurrency. A survey found that among Japanese people trading cryptocurrencies since the end of 2022, the majority chose Mercari's Bitcoin trading service (24.7%) or Rakuten Wallet platform (24.2%), dealing a blow to Japan's largest cryptocurrency exchange, bitFlyer, with only 11.3% of Japanese users utilizing its services, ranking third after the two major e-commerce platforms. |
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