Bitcoin gains strength in Japan, wins support from a leading payment provider

Bitcoin’s cloudy future in Japan just got a bit brighter. The virtual currency has been slow to catch on in Japan following the collapse of noted bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox and the government’s subsequent refusal to categorize it as a currency.

There are still proponents of Bitcoin in the country, however. Now you can add GMO, one of Japan’s largest internet infrastructure firms, to the list of fans.

It announced that its payment solution, GMO Payment Gateway (“GMO-PG”), will support bitcoin payments alongside standard payment options like credit cards and bank transfers starting in November. GMO-PG made a partnership with and investment in BitFlyer, a bitcoin marketplace and settlement service, in order to add bitcoin support.

Considering GMO’s status as a top tech firm, the tie-up with nine-month-old BitFlyer seems unexpected. However, BitFlyer has done a lot in that time. Though BitFlyer only just started operations in January, it has quickly risen to the top of Japan’s bitcoin food chain. It now claims to be the largest bitcoin company in Japan and is also the leader of the Japan Authority of Digital Assets. The firm’s official legal representation comes from Nishimura & Asahi, widely considered to be one of the top law firms in Japan.

GMO-PG’s decision to take the bitcoin plunge could have large ramifications in Japan. The firm is already the most used company for credit card processing, having assembled over 48,000 online stores. Not even Rakuten, the country’s leading ecommerce service, has more stores.

Use of bitcoin requires both parties in a transaction to have a bitcoin wallet, so it is unlikely that users will be able to pay in bitcoin at all 48,000 stores. Even so, the mere act of GMO-PG coming out in support of bitcoin so openly is a sign that the winds may be shifting in Japan.

In its unusually detailed statement, the company noted an important change in Japan’s regulatory environment – in June, the government’s IT strategy committee came out in support of bitcoin. According to the committee, “Bitcoin is something that creates new innovation in business.”

GMO-PG agrees but the next step is convincing 48,000 merchants.

See: Pick up your pickaxes and headlamps: here’s how Bitcoin mining works