Japan's Line to Enable Trial Payments in Native Crypto Token

Line Corporation has decided to try out the real use cases of its native crypto token called LINK (LN). The company that has messaging and digital payment services will allow its users to pay in LINK tokens at select online merchants. The new option will be on trial for nine months, from March 16 to December 26, 2022. Line aims to expand its offerings under online payment options with its native token before adding cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether to its list.

The company confirmed the development with an official statement that released on Tuesday February 8.

“During the trial run, users will be able to use LINK at Line Pay online merchants just like Line Points, without any commission fees. By connecting LINK to Line Pay as a payment solution, Line Pay aims to expand users’ payment options, increase convenience, and grow the real-life usages for LINK,” said the Tokyo-headquartered company.

The LINK (LN) crypto token was first launched August 2018. As per CoinMarketCap, the token is presently trading at $145 (roughly Rs. 10,850) and has a current circulating supply of 5,975,799 LN coins. Its market cap, at the time of writing, stood at $866,479,592 (roughly Rs. 6,480 crore).

Line’s native token LINK, which is also written as LN, is not the same as another altcoin Chainlink, which is represented by the acronym LINK.

Line Corporation is seeking market use surety on its native token before diving deeper into its crypto payment plans that aim to include Bitcoin and Ether among other crypto assets as payment options.

Crypto-related activities are not banned in Japan where Bitcoin and other digital currencies are recognised as legal properties, largely regulated by the Payment Services Act (PSA).

A 2021 report by the Japan Virtual and Crypto assets Exchange Association (JVCEA) claimed that the nation’s virtual currency deposits hit a record high in March 2021, soaring to about US$13 billion and registering a seven-time high as compared to the crypto deposits recorded in Japan in March 2020.

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