Recent regulatory changes to legalize bitcoin as a method of payment in Japan coupled with a general uptick in the popularity of cryptocurrencies sees e-commerce and internet conglomerate DMM announce its foray into cryptocurrency mining.
In its announcement, Tokyo-based DMM revealed details of its bitcoin mining venture with the launch of its ‘Virtual Currency Division’ that will oversee operations of the ‘DMM Mining Farm’, due for an initial launch in October. While the mining farm aims for ‘the completion of successful trials’ next month, DMM confirmed its intention to press ahead with full production by the end of the year.
An excerpt from the announcement of the “mass-scale” mining farm read:
“DMM Mining Farm” will operate a mass-scale, made-in-Japan quality mining farm whose operating size will be unmatched by any of the domestic operators…During the year 2018, DMM will be one of the 10 largest mining farms in the world.
While DMM held back details about the expected mining capacity, the hardware or the desired output of bitcoins or any cryptocurrencies mined, the conglomerate’s operation aims to rank “in the top three of the world’s mining farm companies in terms of scale.” Notably, the announcement underlined Bitcoin and Ethereum as two virtual currencies “expected to be the currencies of the next generation” without explicitly stating it would mine either cryptocurrency.
Further, DMM is also in the process of developing a cloud mining operation that will be open for participation to the general public. “DMM Cloud Mining” will be directly operated by DMM’s virtual currency division. DMM’s mining venture comes within a week of another Japanese internet giant GMO announcing plans to launch a mining operation in the first half of 2018. The Japanese conglomerate launched a bitcoin exchange earlier this year amid a booming demand for digital currencies in Japan.
Founded in 1999, Tokyo-based DMM is perhaps best known globally for its forex trading subsidiary DMM.com Securities, the second largest forex company in the world by trading volume.