Japan's largest messaging app (LINE) launches a marketplace containing 40,000 NFTs

Japan's most popular messaging app (LINE) has launched a market for non-fungible tokens called “LINE NFT”. The new service allows the app's 90 million users to send and exchange NFTs with their friends. LINE NFT Market Launched LVC Corp, operator of LINE's crypto asset and blockchain divisions, announced on Wednesday that it has launched LINE NFT, a non-fungible token market available only in Japan.

LINE describes itself as “the world's fastest growing mobile messaging app.” It offers free messaging, voice calls, and video calls. “As of today, LINE NFT will offer approximately 40,000 NFT products for sale, including Yoshimoto NFT Theater,” the announcement notes, adding that “users can store their holdings of purchased NFTs in their LINE Bitmax wallet.” Yoshimoto NFT Theater features exclusive digital collectibles featuring Yoshimoto Kogyo Holdings videos Bitmax is a cryptocurrency exchange launched by LINE in September 2019.

It can be accessed through the LINE application. The LINE NFT marketplace will also offer exclusive digital collectibles for popular characters including Gyuunyuu, Usagyuuun, Betakkuma and also for the classic anime series “Patlabor: The Mobile Police.” The company added that more NFTs “of a large number of different types” will be offered at a later date. LVC Corp emphasized the concept of “LINE Blockchain designed for everyone,” and said it aims to move forward “to provide NFT and other blockchain services and technologies that can be practically applied to users’ daily lives.” Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten is also launching an NFT marketplace.

"Rakuten NFT is a service that provides a marketplace for users to purchase NFTs, as well as peer-to-peer buying and selling of NFTs in a range of industries such as sports and entertainment, including music and anime. The NFT content issuance and selling service is scheduled to launch in 2023 or later," the company described in a February 25 announcement.