On April 1st, 2017, Bitcoin Japan regulation was officially announced as the digital currency is finally recognized as a method of payment.
This Bitcoin legal classification will set a boom in its adoption as retailers will be able to accept the most popular digital currency.
In 2016, Japanese officials ended the 8% consumption tax rate imposed on bitcoin purchasing on the digital currency exchanges.
This tax relief and the Bitcoin Japan regulation might help to foster confidence in the digital currency industry, where there are 4,200 merchants that accept bitcoin. This growth – merchants are quadrupled from 2015 – occurred in two years when Japan’s cabinet decided to recognize bitcoin and digital currencies as the equivalent of money, in March 2016.
Payment processor Coincheck estimated that 20,000 merchants will be started to accept bitcoin this year.
260,000 Bitcoin-accepting Retail Stores
According to the Asian magazine Nikkei, two Japanese retailing giants have started a few partnerships with bitcoin companies in order to accept bitcoin as a method of payment.
One of these is Recruit Lifestyle, the retail arm of conglomerate Recruit Holdings, that is partnering with Coincheck in order to introduce bitcoin payments.
Also, bitcoin will be soon included in AirRegi, a recruit-developed point-of-sale application that is used at 260,000 retail locations across the whole Japan.
Customers will be able to use tablets and smartphones for paying bills with their bitcoin wallet and Coincheck will convert the digital currency into yen in order to transfer the fiat funds to the shop.
Also, AirRegi is compatible with Alibaba’s Alipay app for payments. Bitcoin’s inclusion will be attractive for tourists who will be able to make payments in other countries without the burdens of foreign exchange.
Click here to more about Bitcoin in Japan.
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