Mobile messenger Line’s crypto to be listed on Bithumb

Naver’s mobile messenger Line’s blockchain subsidiary said Thursday its crytocurrecy Link will be listed on the country’s exchange Bithumb and start trading in the market on Friday.

Line Blockchain and Bithumb said that the deposit and withdrawal address of the cryptocurrency account will be released soon.

Link is a cryptocurrency issued by its Sinpapore branch Line Tech Plus, using “Link chain,” a blockchain mainnet made by Line itself, where the actual transactions of the cryptocurrency will take place.

Since the cryptocurrency is to be listed on Bithumb, domestic investors will have better access, Line Blockchain said.

According to the company, transactions of the cryptocurrency have been made outside of the country through Bitfront and Bitmex, global digital asset exchanges in the US and Japan, respectively.

Domestic investors have had limited access to the cryptocurrency because purchases by domestic credit cards have often been blocked by the card companies, industrial sources said. It comes as a precautionary measure under the anti-money laundering guideline that prevents transactions with unknown parties, global exchanges.

Still, investors cannot directly purchase Link with Korean won but have to buy bitcoin and then use it to purchase the cryptocurrency, the company said.

Meanwhile, Line announced in April it will expand Link’s liquidity by adding more exchanges for transaction and secure more users. The company also laid out its plan to build nonfungible token platforms and add more decentralized applications, digital apps that run on a blockchain outside the control of a single authority.

By Byun Hye-jin (hyejin2@heraldcorp.com)