Nomura forms blockchain-focused partnership with LINE operator

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Japanese financial services giant Nomura has partnered with LVC Corporation, a subsidiary of messaging giant LINE Corporation for the development of blockchain services. The partnership is a follow-up on a memorandum of understanding that the companies agreed on in January. The two companies will work to develop blockchain-based services for the financial services industry.

The partnership brings together two of Japan’s largest companies in their respective fields. LINE is the dominant messaging application in the East Asian country with over 81 million users pooled from Japan and its neighboring countries. The company has also ventured into other products including music streaming, ride hailing, payments and food delivery.

Nomura, on the other hand, provides financial services through its subsidiaries such as wealth and asset management, investment banking, equities trading and financial consultations to its clients.

According to a press release published by Nomura earlier this year, “the decision made by the three parties to execute an MOU is based on their intent to collaborate in blockchain business opportunities by leveraging LINE’s large user base and its secure and convenient UI/UX, and Nomura Group’s established financial business know -how.”

As CoinGeek reported then, LVC raised additional capital by issuing new shares to Nomura.

For LINE, the partnership is the latest in a rapid number of moves into the blockchain technology industry. The Tokyo-based company secured a crypto exchange license from the country’s Financial Services Agency in September.

This wasn’t the company’s first crypto exchange venture either. In 2018, the company launched its first crypto exchange, BITBOX which is based in Singapore. At the time, the company stated, “LINE has built its reputation on providing a great social experience for our users, and now we intend to bring that know-how to the world of digital tokens with our BITBOX exchange.” LINE partnered with BitGo to provide high levels of security at a time when Asian crypto exchanges were under increasing attacks from hackers.

LINE’s second crypto exchange BitMax went live in September in Japan, with the company making it available for Android users initially. The exchange offers trading in BTC, Litecoin, XRP, Ether and BCH. LINE described BitMax as “a simple and secure cryptocurrency exchange that makes getting started easy even for beginners at cryptocurrency trading.”