Line’s operator of fintech services, LINE Pay Corporation, is set to join hands with an American payment services firm, Visa, on a new blockchain and digital payments solution project.
According to reports, Line, a leading messaging app in Japan, is looking to expand its payment arm, Line Pay, and partnering with Visa is a step towards building this reality. The move seems similar to that of China’s Wechat.
Line Pay is attempting to have more payment options through its Visa partnership. Its users will now be able to apply for a digital Visa card from within the Line Pay app and to integrate existing Visa cards to make mobile-based payments in the future.
Most notably for the crypto and blockchain community, Line and Visa are also reportedly working on the creation of new fintech solutions powered by blockchain technology. The solution will look to support business-to-business, cross-border payments, and alternative currency transactions.
This new blockchain feature is one of many new additions for merchants. Visa merchants will now be linked with Line, and its users through their LINE Pay digital wallet, even if the seller is not officially connected with Line.
Another step forward for blockchain
The collaboration between Line and Visa is one way of bringing blockchain technology to millions around the world. With an estimated 1.66 billion Visa debit cards and 781 million credit cards in circulation worldwide, Visa is a large organization to partner with and throwing blockchain technology into the mix makes it even tastier. Additionally, 54 million merchant locations working with Visa globally will now be introduced to blockchain technology.
Line has fully embraced the crypto and blockchain sphere. Last summer, it released its own cryptocurrency and has developed its own blockchain called Link Chain. The blockchain platform allows decentralized applications to be applied directly to LINE’s messaging platform.
This is not the first crypto/blockchain venture that Visa has embarked on. In the spring of this year, Visa partnered with a US-base cryptocurrency firm, Coinbase, for a debit card powered by cryptocurrencies. Visa has also posted a crypto and blockchain-related job opportunity looking for a Technical Product Manager at Visa Fintech in Paolo Alto.
With the ever-growing number of huge companies utilizing blockchain, as well as national governments, the technology behind cryptocurrencies, will soon be the central concept behind various global solutions for real-world problems.
Let’s hope the rise in blockchain usage coincides with that of cryptocurrencies everywhere.
