LINE NFT marketplace will allow the social network and messaging App’s 90 million users to send and exchange over 40,000 digital collectibles with their friends.
Japan’s leading social messaging App, LINE, has partnered with major Japanese entertainment giant Yoshimoto Kogyo to storm the NFT space. LINE officially launched the LINE NFT, which, together with Line’s crypto and blockchain manager LVC Corporation, will bring around 40,000 different NFTs to its 90 million users.
According to a press release by LINE, the initial set of NFTs will include videos from the company’s in-house Yoshimoto NFT Theatre and avatar collectibles from the well-known anime series Patlabor the Mobile Police. The LINE NFT marketplace will also offer NFTs of popular characters — including Gyuunyuu, Usagyuuun, and Betakkuma, adding that more NFTs “from many different genres will be offered at a later date.”
Users can store purchased NFTs in their LINE Bitmax wallet.
LINE described itself as “the fastest-growing mobile messenger app in the world.” It offers complimentary messages, voice calls, and video calls. The announcement stated:
“From today, LINE NFT will offer around 40,000 NFT products for sale, including Yoshimoto NFT Theater […] users can store purchased NFTs in their LINE Bitmax wallet.”
Yoshimoto NFT Theater comprises NFTs of videos by Yoshimoto Kogyo Holdings Co. Ltd. Bitmax is a cryptocurrency exchange launched by LINE in September 2019 and accessible through the LINE app. The announcement further stated:
“Through the LINE app — with a user base of approximately 90 million in Japan — they can conveniently send or exchange NFTs with their LINE friends.”
Japanese are slowly but surely catching the NFT fever
LINE App adds NFT capabilities to a growing list of crypto-ready features after introducing the option of allowing users to pay for items with its native token LINK (LN) at any of LINE Pay’s online merchants earlier this year. LINE has a reputation for being among the first major technology companies in Japan to adopt cryptocurrency and blockchain technology after launching its very own crypto exchange in 2018.
Despite the country’s relatively strict crypto regulations, the Japanese are slowly but surely catching the NFT fever as they gain popularity. The Japanese financial services conglomerate Nomura Holdings is the latest major player in the country to develop an action plan for implementing NFTs. Earlier this year, major Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten announced the launch of its own NFT trading platform dubbed Rakuten NFT.
Tom is a freelance writer with over 10-years’ experience in content creation, blog writing, and SEO specializing in the blockchain and cryptocurrency niche. As a philosophical figurehead, he believes that to make our world a better place, we must invest in incorruptible products and procedures, of which Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are leading examples.
