‘Financial business alliance’ between LVC, Line, Nomura focuses on blockchain

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Japanese messaging app Line and a related company have announced plans to partner with a local financial giant, in a bid to create a new blockchain alliance. LVC Corporation, Line and Nomura Holdings Inc. have executed a memorandum of understanding, which will see the firms forming a “financial business alliance” to focus on developing blockchain technology.

The parties are to consider a capital alliance, with Nomura set to acquire new capital in LVC as part of the arrangements, subject to regulatory approval.

A formal contract is expected to be signed between the parties by the end of March. More details on the structure and focus of the group are expected over the coming weeks.

The project follows on from previous partnerships between Line and Nomura Holdings. In 2018, the firms set up a new company in a joint venture with split equity, which is set to provide investment advice and brokerage in the sector.

Line has been heavily involved in blockchain in recent years, including applying for a license to setup a crypto exchange back in January 2018.

The service is set to be rolled out to the 200 million monthly users of Line’s messaging app, introducing potentially hundreds of millions of consumers to cryptocurrency payment and investment for the first time.

The firm then launched their own in-app token, Link, which can be used to pay for a range of Line services. There were 1 billion Link tokens created, of which 200 million are held in reserve by the company.

Tokyo-based Nomura Holdings provides financing and investment services to a range of institutions, businesses and individuals. The company posts revenues in excess of JPY1.496 trillion.

The cooperation will be the latest example of firms working together to capitalize on opportunities in the blockchain space, particularly in Japan.

Benefiting from a supportive regulatory regime for crypto businesses, Japan is increasingly seeing activity from industry in blockchain development. This week, Japanese giants Fujitsu announced they had developed a new system for managing electricity capacity, capable of delivering up to a 40% improvement on existing processes.