East Japan Railway Company Considers New Crypto Payment System for Suica payment Cards

Kazuhiro Tokita, president of DeCurret, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, has introduced a novel cryptocurrency payment platform while giving a business presentation in Tokyo on March 27. The unique software would facilitate topping the Suica payment card with crypto currency. The card is issued by Japan’s biggest operator of railway network, the East Japan Railway Company (JR East).

The report, however, highlights that there are no definite plans as of now, and that JR East is only looking at the possibility of implementation. Data published by the company reveals that roughly 70 million Suica cards were issued at the end of March last year.

The dedicated website elaborates that Suica is a prepaid e-money card, which permits users to pay for goods, services and also transport. Decurret received approval from the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) to operate cryptocurrency related services three days before.

Trading is expected to begin on April 16th, with support for Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC) and Ripple (XRP) to begin with. By June or July, the firm aims to support Ethereum (ETH) with the yen and Bitcoin acting as base currencies.

Notably, e-commerce giant Rakuten is planning to launch its own cryptocurrency exchange, named Rakuten Wallet. In other Japanese news, e-commerce giant Rakuten will soon launch its own cryptocurrency exchange, dubbed Rakuten Wallet. The company disclosed its plan after it receiving FSA’s approval on March 25.