Rakuten Announce Launch Of Its Non-Fungible Token (NFT) Marketplace

Rakuten Group Inc, the company behind the popular ecommerce platform Rakuten, has announced the launch of its non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace. 

According to the official press release, the nre market place, coined as Rakuten NFT, will offer its users digital collectibles of sports and entertainment including music and anime.

Also, Rakuten NFT will offer minting services for intellectual property (IP) holders to create digital assets of their IP.

The firm intends to provide service for peer-to-peer issuing and selling of NFT content some time in 2023 or later, which will support IP holders in Japan and worldwide to issue NFTs, as well as spur further development of a global market for NFTs.

Rakuten’s first NFT drop includes digital assets from an anime called Ultraman as well as the horse-racing themed comic Kurogane Hiroshi G1 Gekitoshi (2010 Series). According to the announcement:

From 9 p.m. JST tonight [25 February, 2022], an NFT using Ultraman anime CG assets and an NFT of the horse racing-themed comic Kurogane Hiroshi G1 Gekitoshi (2010 Series), containing illustrations by famed manga artist Hiroshi Kurogane, will go to market. 

Rakuten is a Japanese e-commerce store that sells goods and services in books, fintech, cosmetics, digital content and more, and offers buyers cashback for making purchases on the platform. Last year the firm reported a total 26.9 trillion yen ($232.7 billion USD) worth of total transactions.