Rakuten, CipherTrace connect for new Japanese crypto exchange

Rakuten Wallet, a subsidiary of Japan’s Rakuten Group, has joined forces with CipherTrace in an effort to enhance its upcoming cryptocurrency exchange. The partnership will see Rakuten use CipherTrace’s technology in order to ensure compliance to anti-money laundering (AML) laws and to better protect consumers. Rakuten Wallet first began taking applications April 15.

Rakuten, the “Amazon” of Japan, was one of the first major eCommerce companies to get involved with cryptocurrency. Its position in the market is helping to facilitate rapid growth and adoption of the exchange platform, which has already received significant customer attention.

According to Rakuten Wallet Head of Risk Control Yoshinao Kiyama, “We are happy to partner with CipherTrace in advance of our exchange launch. Regulatory compliance and anti-money laundering protections are of the utmost importance, and we believe CipherTrace will provide us the necessary tools needed to best support Rakuten Wallet.”

For its part, CipherTrace, which has been around since 2015, will support the platform by protecting the compliance strategy and integrity of the exchange, as well as by helping to improve investor security. CipherTrace is heavily into blockchain forensics and has worked with entities around the world to help evolve the crypto ecosystem and to provide regulatory guidance. Among its many partnerships, the company was selected by Malta to help track digital assets. The company’s CEO, Dave Jevans, was appointed as the first Bitcoin expert witness by the Canadian court system.

Jevans states of the latest partnership with Rakuten, “It is a major step for an ecommerce giant like Rakuten to both acknowledge cryptocurrency’s potential and adopt it. We have made significant strides as an industry to make the cryptocurrency market grow and become more trustable. Rakuten Wallet cares about its customers and will work with CipherTrace to make sure that exchanges have optimal protections for mainstream adoption. It is our hope that proper compliance, transparency and increased trust will lead to more and more participation in the global crypto market. We are excited to blaze this trail with Rakuten Wallet.”

Rakuten had previously announced that its mobile payment app would begin to accept crypto, which was going to be a huge bonus for global crypto adoption. However, it later was forced to hold off as the finer points of regulations and logistics were worked out.