Bitcoin getting close to Mass Adoption in Japan?

in bitcoin •  8 years ago 

As you likely know by now, on April 1st Japan passed a law that recognized Bitcoin as a legal method of payment.

No, this wasn't an April Fool's joke (as some might have thought at the time), although ironically it happened on the same day. 

April 1st represents a new fiscal year in Japan. A day when all the official books turn the page on a new business year. Which is likely why it was announced on April 1st.

Not only did they announce that Bitcoin would be considered legal tender, but they also went about setting up capital requirements, cyber security regulations, employee training, and annual audits. There was also official standards for auditing digital currencies put in place by the Accounting Standards Board of Japan. 

Basically they are setting up all the infrastructure needed for Bitcoin to not only be used as a possible means of exchange but also to possibly take over as the primary means of transaction at some point. 

Recent developments only further those possibilities...

According to recent reports, there are more than 300,000 Japanese merchants that could soon be accepting Bitcoin. There are also thousands of convenience stores that could soon start offering Bitcoin as an accepted means of payment.

Combine that with the fact that leading airlines, electronic stores, and some of the Country's most well known companies are accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment makes it seem likely that mainstream adoption of Bitcoin is imminent in Japan. 

Japan's largest budget airline, Peach recently announced that it would start accepting bitcoin. 

They became the first airline to do so.

The release can be read here:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-22/peach-becomes-japan-s-first-airline-to-accept-payment-in-bitcoin

The company, Bitpoint partnered with Peach to help make that a reality. 

The president of Bitpoint, Genki Oda had this to say in a recent interview when talking about their plans for Bitcoin integration going forward:

"Currently we are holding discussions with a retail-related company. By going through a company providing payment terminal services to shops, we have the possibility of increasing Bitcoin's use at one stroke. It's easier than talking to lots of individual retailers. We're also talking to a big convenience store operator about using it."

So, it sounds like a single payment processing company could be the middle man for processing bitcoin transactions for literally thousands of merchants. Likely similar to what paypal does. 

Currently Bitpoint operates mostly as an exchange but has been pushing Bitcoin to be adopted in stores and outlets as opposed to merely promoting it as a speculative investment. 

(A Bitpoint ATM in action)

This is likely just the beginning for Bitcoin

Bitcoin has always had it's long term safe-haven asset appeal, but now it appears it's real world use cases are expanding rather rapidly. 

Bitcoin will need to solve a couple technical issues before it really hits the mass adoption stage and I am a bit surprised Japan is pushing it so aggressively in it's current form.

Scaling/speed and fees will likely need to be addressed at some point in the future. 

In my opinion, though, Japan is likely setting the trend that the rest of the world will soon follow.

Stay informed my friends!

Sources:

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/11/bitcoin-rides-japanese-demand-to-record-1800.html

https://cointelegraph.com/news/suddenly-everybody-loves-bitcoin

Image Sources:

http://neocashradio.com/blog/ep201-japan-bitcoin-gold-ethereum-casper-smart-contracts-dash-open-house/

http://bitcorati.com/2014/03/23/bitcoin-tipping-point-mass-adoption/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-29/japan-s-bitpoint-to-add-bitcoin-payments-to-100-000s-of-outlets

Follow me: @jrcornel

Authors get paid when people like you upvote their post.
If you enjoyed what you read here, create your account today and start earning FREE STEEM!
Sort Order:  

It will be a hard-time for it to get accepted worldwide but one step at a time. Hope I see some BTC atm's and it's daily usage during my lifetime in my country. It's actually symbolic. Land of a rising Sun - accepting BTC. Next stops will be more difficult. :)

@jrcornel,this is a really good news, but I don't know when it will be accepted in China, looking forward to it.

Bitcoin not accepted in China?! There are plenty of Chinese who are very passionate about Bitcoin.

Yeah!
China drove bitcoin the first $1000 or more on the current run up.

@yeah, there are many, but is not legalized..

That's the best part. Bitcoin doesn't care.

@kyle.anderson, yes, thank you ^_^

There are a few countries where bitcoin is forbidden or at least discouraged; elsewhere it seems to be just OK. At this point, its more a matter of whether a business accepts bitcoin or not. A lot of people continue with the idea that bitcoin (and similar coins) is the exclusive turf of drug and weapons dealers, and this perception has slowed adoption tremendously. The way I see it, using bitcoin is not any shadier than paying things with cash (no credit card or such, just cash).

I was just in Japan and couldn't find anywhere to spend my BTC. I was there for a little over 2 weeks and hit most of the major cities.
I was salty because I wanted to document the buying process and blog about it on Steemit. . .
On the plus side, my bitcoin wallet remained secure and in my possession while traveling in and out of both Japan and China.

Whoa... This is HUGE news! thanks a bunch for sharing this massive pice of the crypto puzzle with us all. Namaste :)

As you said, It is surprising that Japan is adopting bitcoin rapidly seeing as it is experiencing the slow processing times. Still, we welcome the pioneering as it builds the highway for other cryptos.

Salute the pioneers

Nice info @jrcornel, in Indonesia Bali is the first place that use bitcoin in public services. Right now day to day it become more acceptable in public.

I'm sorry, but Bitcoin is just way too slow and transactions are way to expensive. It's just not a currently and more of an asset these days.

Hey guys I want to catch your attention with his awesome question pertaining bitcoins on my page check it out it'll make think a little about all these crypto currencies great article by the way

Happy to see this although as you say there is still those issues with scaling and speed that would make me still a little cautious.

Congratulations @jrcornel!
Your post was mentioned in my hit parade in the following categories:

  • Upvotes - Ranked 4 with 666 upvotes
  • Pending payout - Ranked 8 with $ 640,18

I agree where you list Bitcoin on the bell of adoption.

This is not just the beginning for Bitcoin. This is the start of something much, much bigger.

An internet of interconnected blockchains are going to power new types of financial assets that are going to blow Bitcoin out of the water.

This is not about Bitcoin, rather decenteralized choice in financial services powered by decenteralized currency.

I'm very curious to see how this plays out because I'd say that 95% of the people I know here in Japan either know nothing about Bitcoin, or they have a bad/skeptical opinion of it from some scandal that happened a few years ago. If course, I don't live in one of the major cities, but still, I find it very interesting that the infrastructure for its use is being made while much of the public seems to me to have no idea.

Yeah its very interesting ... We're about to see the first wave of blockchain-enabled product adoptions. Especially in japan their obsession with robots is formidable, why not let the robots have, mine, earn, and spend money in the economy? M2M economy

Some people in the government are making moves to fill their pockets. Plus, they're also thinking about the Olympics in 2020, I'm sure. They want to be tech-savvy and ready to be a representative of the future. Honestly, though, I really think the average person in Japan has no idea this is happening.

I find it exciting, but strange.

Once the infrastructure catches up, and the early adopters start using this daily - more and more will leave their skepticism behind.

Of course. It doesn't take more than a spark to light a fire.

I'm excited to see the price of my coins going up ;) More money = more happiness, or.. well, idk. It certainly makes me smile. But I think if the price goes past $4-5K I'm definitely cashing out half, or maybe even more. After that, each month I'll probably take out half. Just due to the crazy prices, maybe it's a little bit safer to go with traditional stocks (once you have a large enough capital to diversify into both crypto and stocks).

Thank you for your posting.
It was a amazing the Japanese government adopted the Bitcoin as a currency.
I Wish the same adoptation go wider to many countries, for example especially in KOREA.

It will come. Countries who try and exclude or limit these disruptive technologies will be left without the innovations and prosperity they will bring.

China understands.

Russia understands.

The times of slow growth are coming to an end. It will happen very fast from now on.

damn, what will those 300.000 stores say when everything stops working on august 1st?

The only question that remains is:
When will big corporations like the airline start to accept Steem as payments?

Lol, maybe we could purchase Steem with frequent flyer miles!

Very soon! Very Soon!!

Good post @jrcornel I agree they are definitely setting the trend. I hope things speed up soon.

I totally agree with you on this... Cryptocurrency will change how we look and deal with money in the future.

Bitcoin will need to solve a couple technical issues before it really hits the mass adoption stage and I am a bit surprised Japan is pushing it so aggressively in it's current form.

I think scaling will be resolved soon, despite the fear mongering going. I hope Segwit gets adopted before UASF is needed, but even if UASF happens and creates a split chain we'll have one chain that will be able handle this kind of demand and once chain that can't... there's no reason for miners to be on the losing side. Bitcoin has been making slow and conservative gains relative to all other alts, once scaling uncertainty is over you can expect fireworks

this is relay awesome and this is only the beginning
Scandinavian countries and Russia are working on creating regulations for crypto currencies as well

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

Its funny that the balance of my phone wallet keeps going up instead of down like a regular bank account. Once people understand the banks are really robbing them and bitcoin will soon be able to be used anywhere in the world, there will be a crazy rush into bitcoins. Thanks for sharing

It is a very important milestone for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Being accepted as a legal tender means that Bitcoin is beginning its long journey to becoming a mainstream currency. The disruption that this will bring to the finanical sector will spur more innovative to reduce counterparty risk as well as bring down the transaction cost of sending money across borders.

Wonderful news! Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for your posting!

Very interesting! I think bitcoin has the potential to be used more than governmental currencies eventually.

The ATMs, along with BTC, should also work with LTC, given that the latter is a faster and less expensive coin.

There are a ton of coins that are faster and cheaper... Steem is one of the best examples actually. However, that doesn't guarantee anything, although it should.

Speed in a coin is important for me. Sometimes I pay things online with bitcoin and the transfer takes two or three days to confirm. That would be a problem if I were to pay a restaurant bill with it, for example. :(

Seems BTC would need to be treated more like a personal check. The ideology is the same, you are debiting from a fund (wallet). I haven't had much of an issue with BTC validation at least when fee's are attached, but, to your point, some places require far more validation than others and are a pain.

Three Caribbean countries are currently discussing Bitcoin and Blockchain technology, Aruba, Bahamas and Barbados. I hope those discussion continue in a healthy direction. There is widespread use in Aruba and Barbados and other islands are looking on, it would be awesome when the entire Caribbean comes on. We need need more education and help, there is not doubt in my mind, with the proper education, it would become mainstream, so hopefully we adopt to it, wouldn't it be awesome for tourism, Japan would be jealous

According to recent reports, there are more than 300,000 Japanese merchants that could soon be accepting Bitcoin.

This is good news to the cryptocurrency world. Very soon more and more country will follow the Japanese Government and make Bitcoin a legal tender in their various countries.

I tell you, the future is very bright with cryptocurrencies especially our beloved STEEM & SBD


I found this post informative, therefore I shared it on Twitter => https://twitter.com/MrLucasHunter/status/871858300270383104

MrLucasHunter Abolade Lucas tweeted @ 05 Jun 2017 - 22:36 UTC

Great #news - #Bitcoin getting close to Mass Adoption in #Japan.

steemit.com/bitcoin/@jrcor… / https://t.co/jNMt9nlIej

Disclaimer: I am just a bot trying to be helpful.

emo13.png

Go Japan

love Japan so much especially scenery and foods

Thank you for this update.
I believe this is one of the important steps we need towards making bitcoin 'mainstream'.
How this is all executed and experienced in Japan will set the trend for other countries.
Very hyped about this!

Thanks for the info.

This a good news to invest in cryptocurrencies , a new era of finance is rising

@jrcornel, Thank you for sharing this good information. I heard that currently it is not that simple to use Bitcoin in transactions. I have just come across Dash, another crypto currency. They are coming out with an easy and faster way to spend their currency this fall.

Maybe i'm completely wrong, but Bitcoin's biggest issue now is that the average transaction speed is incredibly long. Won't mass-adaption only clog the networks even more? Why do all these merchants want to wait 2+hours for the money to arrive when conventional methods are much faster? If the average time to confirm a transaction is so long, won't these merchants be trading on unconfirmed transactions?

Or is it because all those merchants want to be paid in a currency that will, most likely, appreciate a crazy amount when mass adoption comes around? I'm just spitballing here.

@jrcornel Great News, this will be open the dors for all the coins.

that's good news for bitcoin holders but for the bankers....resteem it

My father does not understand cryptocurrency and stuff...hoping he understand or at least give me some money to invest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

need not invest too much, just keep several ETH and Ripple and wait for several yrs. Then maybe enough to buy a brand new car !

Also japan understand that bitcoin is the real deal . The new empire is here. ❤❤

other Asian country running behind the big trend ?

Thanks for sharing this great news! Hopefully, many more countries will follow in Japan's footsteps.

smart move Japan
bitcoin emerging !

Getting accepted worldwide is the goal for all us #miners! Crossing my fingers!

Bitcoin is a blessing but one thing needs to be adjusted, the transfer fee is getting higher.
I love bitcoin.

This is a really exciting time to be alive, fingers crossed this is a stepping stone for BTC becoming readily accepted throughout the world.

Yup big companies like Peach Airlines and BIC Camera starts accepting Bitcoin

Good read. If BTC becomes more popular in different countries, it may be great for coin-holders.

Beautiful

That is great news! We go there in July....
Thank you for sharing this!

Amazing this should benefit everyone in the Cryptocurrency community :D

Bitcoin stocks on a tear last few days a something new and exciting to consider. Here is the latest one I did a quick write up about, up 100% just today. Links in the article to the other ones as well.
https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@motowngold/1-more-bitcoin-stock-coin-citadel-cctl-0003-share-at-time-of-writing

SO SOON SO FAST AUSTRALIA IS UPCOMMING SOON...There is just on king....find more at our cyptostory

https://steemit.com/steemit/@mfg/adopt-crypto-god-short-cartoon-story-about-cryptocurrency

Qatar needs this as they are now isolated by their neighbors.

Japan doesn't usually adopt new things very quickly. Smartphones also took awhile to catch on but when they caught on they really caught on. I think it will be the same for bitcoin.

Litecoin is a better gamble for poor people like myself

I'm so poor I don't have anything to invest with...

loved ur article jrcornel, wondering if you can help me out if you like my article. https://steemit.com/steem/@danlupi/what-crypto-to-buy-investing-in-anything-but-bitcoin-is-still-investing-in-bitcoin-how

Thank you very much for helping us to stay informed! I really enjoyed the article :)

Keep writing good posts! We appreciate that :)

Best, Denitsa

Lets hope that as crypto-currencies become more universally accepted (which they must as they cannot be stopped), that they don't become centralised and over-regulated. As they stand, they provide humanity with a real chance to overcome the terror of fiat money and all the corruption, inhumanity, war and exploitation that it breeds and demands.

Amzing!!!

Those bitpoint atm machines look amazing. This is truly the future! I agree that Japan is setting the trend and precedent of the future in terms of this technology.

Really interesting topic, and hopefully the whole world will use bitcoin as a legal method of payment

bitcoins is the future greeting from venezuela

Japan has historically been a "testing ground" for technology, both good and bad. I am not surprised to see Japan leading the way in Bitcoin mass adoption. This is good for BTC, I am sure many countries are monitoring the rollout in Japan.

Very good news!

Amazing news :) It's only the beginning.

Bitcoin is going to be adopted in the entire galaxy !!
PS : I'm serious !

Wow! Japan is setting new bars. Really looking forward to further crypto implementation around the globe.

What an amazing post :) for some time I've said btc would be used worldwide as a normal currency as our day to day money! I'm actually even applying too work in a bank because they are trying to invest and recrute new people that understand about the crypto world!

I think Japan will definitely have a big place in the history book for this early adoption. So excited to be alive at this exciting times!

@jrcornel,this is a really good news, but I don't know when it will be accepted in Nigeria, looking forward to it.

Yes, I think this is the beginning of mass adoption, however., because this kind of adoption can not be compared to any other type of adoption (tech, internet..etc) we have no idea of how long the crypto adoption process will take.

This is very promising but there are so many questions as to what will happen to Bitcoin after August 1st when the soft/hard fork occurs.
download-1.jpg

Many social media platforms that are popular in the West (Europe and USA mainly) are unpopular/unknown in the East (China/Japan) and vice versa.
We should try to promote the use of Steemit not only in the West, but also in the East so that we have a cross-cultural platform.

Goos post for me. Thank you for your effort

Hoping you are right about still being in the Early Adopters fase but think we just got in to the Early Majority fase.

interesting post

Nice post! Followed and upvoted. Do visit my article as well:
https://steemit.com/interesting/@archerized/the-most-spoken-word-on-the-planet-earth

We really need other methods to use other cryptos other then BTC, Dash will get there ;)

Very interesting times we're in :)

Just remember it won't be long and the Olympic games will be held in Japan. So it doesn't surprise me that they are looking at digital currency for people to pay. Also it could be a beta test as the banksters want to go to a cashless society, and the cyptocurrency infrastructure for it is already except for the laws and regulations.

check out my blogs on bitcoin

I think we are really in the right place at the right time. I'm amazed at how fast things are moving forward towards adoption in different areas. It would not surprise me to see Steem up there with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin for direct trading to dollars on Coinbase soon.

Informative post

awesome news! I hope it gets accepted in america soon or very soon

Still, not many platforms accept trade between bitcoin and HKD here in HK.
Years are required for
the implementation of bitcoin commerce. It is a big concern for bitcoin's popularizing I guess.

@jrcornel, what are your thoughts about the coming soft fork on bitcoin this August?

btc needs an update

Japan is becoming the leader of BTC

In only some years the World is becoming the Leader in Btc

  ·  8 years ago 

I am going to Japan next week, Tokyo to be exact, and my company's office is located a few buildings away from Tokyo Stock Exchange. It will be good if I can find a Bitcoin ATM around that region. Any idea about if this is possible?

It's going to take time but together we can work to create a world currency

Great news..
Awesome and so interesting..
Thanks for sharing..
Dear friend @jrcornel
Have a nice day ^_^

amazing that many people are still afraid to invest in bitcoin ... happy to know that Japanese are the smart one

👌👍

If you get the Japanese you'll get anyone.

This is how you grow a country, adapting to new technologies. Unfortunately can't say the same about my country (Nigeria/Ghana) Where our leaders are so corrupt and greedy that they mortgage our future for peanuts..

Exciting times! Let us hope the rest of the world follows Japan's example. It definitely shows that the world is slowly getting ready for bitcoin and other blockchain based projects!

good news for the crypto world.

Until the scaling problem is solved BTC isn't practical as a point of sale payment system. It's a shame because this is such an easy problem to solve.

Great news... Hope it is accepted worldwide