Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten has announced a revision to its corporate restructure, setting up a new payments subsidiary that includes its cryptocurrency business, Cointelegraph Japan reported Jan. 21.
Rakuten originally revealed in August last year it would seek to reorganize its various offshoots in order to improve accountability and decision-making processes. Now, the company says it will rebrand its loyalty subsidiary, Spotlight Inc., to a new entity, Rakuten Payment, which will also run its cryptocurrency exchange.
Rakuten Payment, along with other details of the restructure, should go live by April 1, the company stated in an accompanying press release Jan. 18. Once launched, it will form an umbrella for two operations: cryptocurrency exchange Everybody’s Bitcoin, which Rakuten also acquired last August, and prepaid card service Rakuten Edy.
Rakuten opened a Research & Development Lab focused on blockchain & cryptocurrencies technology in Belfast back in August 2016.
