E-Commerce Giant DMM to Launch Bitcoin Mining Venture

The rising popularity of cryptocurrencies in Japan has attracted yet another established business, with e-commerce and digital services firm DMM announcing a new mining venture.

Breaking the news last week, the company said on its website that it would begin moving toward trials of the scheme next month. Though a firm date wasn't released for full production, DMM indicated that it would do so by the end of the year if the trials were successful.

As well as the mining farm operation, DMM is also launching its own mining pool and cloud mining service through which it will sell hashrates to outside buyers. It is not immediately apparent which cryptocurrencies will be mined, though an explainer singled out bitcoin and ethereum.

Further, while it provided no details regarding the source of the mining hardware or how much capacity it plans to create, DMM did say that it "will be one of the 10 largest mining farms in the world" in 2018, with plans to eventually reach a top three ranking.

This is the second major Japanese company to announce a cryptocurrency mining venture in the past week. GMO, another tech firm started in the 1990s, plans to open a bitcoin mine somewhere in northern Europe, with plans to operate a cloud mining service of its own.

DMM, founded in 1999, is led by billionaire Keishi Kameyama and got its start in the pornography business before expanding to a range of e-commerce and digital services. Notably, the company also has a subsidiary that is the second largest forex company in the world by trading volume, according to figures from 2014.

Bitcoin mining image via Shutterstock