Yahoo Finance 
Breaking: Japan’s Biggest Railway Plans to Accept Cryptocurrency Payments
Japan Railways Group, the biggest railway and subway operator in Japan that is used by millions of Japanese individuals on a daily basis, is considering the integration of crypto assets like bitcoin as a payment option.
According to ANN News, a mainstream commercial television news network in Japan run by TV Asahi Corporation, JR Group is currently planning to establish a cryptocurrency company, possibly an exchange in partnership with a major bank, to integrate cryptocurrencies.
Massive Boost in Crypto and Bitcoin Adoption
If JR Group moves forward with its plans to integrate crypto into the Suica card, the national public transport card that is used by residents for various payments including subway transactions, it has the potential to become the biggest stimulus in retail and mainstream cryptocurrency adoption to date.
Based on the report of ANN News and the reported plans of JR Group to establish a new cryptocurrency venture, it is likely that the company would like to create its own exchange or infrastructure to process payments, similar to Rakuten.
Last year, Rakuten, the biggest e-commerce company in Japan known as the country’s Amazon, acquired a bitcoin exchange called everybody’s bitcoin for $2 million and placed the exchange under its subsidiary called Rakuten Payments.
Local analysts speculated that Rakuten acquired the exchange to potentially integrate crypto payment options into its platform in the future without passing the profits generated to a third party such as a cryptocurrency exchange or a payment service provider.
