Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten may soon accept Bitcoin

Rakuten, the conglomerate operating the largest e-commerce site in Japan and one of the largest in the world, may soon accept Bitcoin, based on comments made by CEO Hiroshi Mikitani.

If they follow through, they would rank right behind DISH among the largest companies to accept Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that Read this Term. Rakuten has close to 11,000 employees and trades on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Stock Exchange A stock exchange, also known as a securities exchange or bourse represents is a facility where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities.This includes shares of stock, bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), or other financial instruments. By extension, stock exchanges can also provide facilities for the issue and redemption of such securities and instruments and capital events including the payment of income and dividendsStock exchanges have developed into a permanent fixture in the fin A stock exchange, also known as a securities exchange or bourse represents is a facility where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities.This includes shares of stock, bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), or other financial instruments. By extension, stock exchanges can also provide facilities for the issue and redemption of such securities and instruments and capital events including the payment of income and dividendsStock exchanges have developed into a permanent fixture in the fin Read this Term. It has a market cap of 1.82 trillion yen, the equivalent of roughly $18 billion. But unlike other publicly traded companies accepting Bitcoin, they have been profitable.

In 2012, their revenues were reported to be $4.6 billion. By comparison, Overstock.com posted $1.3 billion in 2013.

The conglomerate bought out other e-commerce sites from outside of Japan, including buy.com, Priceminister, Ikeda, Tradoria, Play.com, Wuaki.tv and Kobo.

Aside from e-commerce, the conglomerate also engages in banking services, media, travel and hotel booking, securities brokerage, professional sports and entertainment.

Their ambitious string of takeovers also reached outside of the e-commerce realm. This year alone, they acquired the Viber VOIP service and DC Storm, a UK marketing technology company.

Particularly fitting for the theme of Bitcoin is their facilitation of US-based e-tailers who don't even have a bank account, address or entity registered in Japan.