Over 20,000 Japanese Retailers to Accept Bitcoin Payments

Bitcoin exchange Quoine has inked a deal with payments network Econtext to allow 20,000 online and brick-and-mortar merchants in Japan to accept bitcoin payments.

The move essentially allows the thousands of online stores that already use Econtext’s payment processing service to accept bitcoin payments without having to use a special bitcoin processor. From now on, merchants will be able to enjoy such a service.

Quoine CEO Mario Gomez Lozada said his company has been in discussions with Econtext since last year and has done a lot of integration work to connect to Quoine’s payment platform.

Gomez Lozada told CoinDesk:

“This is a very important deal for us.”

According to Gomez Lozada, Econtext has signed up several merchants to accept Bitcoin and is welcoming others to apply.

Such a partnership could spur a surge in merchants accepting bitcoin in Japan, where adoption has been slow compared to other countries due to negative headlines surrounding the collapse of the Mt Gox exchange.

How the system works

Quoine's exchange is linked to the merchant's verification system, providing the merchant with a quote for the price of Bitcoin, which is passed on to the customer.

The quote is locked for 30 minutes between the customer and the merchant, so there is no need to worry about huge fluctuations in the price of Bitcoin. The payment method provided by Econtext allows merchants to use a selection page, on which Bitcoin and a QR code will appear, and users can use it to pay.

Recently, the company recently acquired a subsidiary of Digital Garage Inc., a technology investment company in Japan that provides settlement services to businesses, operates payment systems including credit cards, electronic money and loyalty points, as well as bills for convenience stores, banks and communication operators.

Technical support provided by Quoine

As a more professional foreign exchange trader than the average consumer, Singapore-based Quoine claims to be the highest-volume bitcoin exchange in the Japanese yen market.

Gomez Lozada said that the average trading volume on the exchange is currently between 500 and 1,000, and it will be higher during holidays and special days.

“The growth in volume has been phenomenal, pretty staggering, and it continues to grow.”

In addition to Bitcoin, Quoine has added ten fiat currencies to the account.

Quoine recently enabled a new feature that allows Bitcoin to be freely traded with other fiat currencies on its platform, however, users can only trade using their local fiat currency.

The exchange is also opening up 25x margin trading (in Bitcoin or fiat collateral), algorithmic trading, Japanese Yen futures, interest-bearing Bitcoin loans, and API access.