Japanese e-commerce giant DMM retires from cryptocurrency mining business

The year did not end on a high note for the Japanese cryptocurrency market—just days after the news of IT-giant GMO closing down their miner factory another leading industry player has announced their withdrawal from the business. E-commerce conglomerate DMM is preparing to close down their cryptocurrency mining operations due to their “deteriorating profitability.”

Less than a year after the establishment of their cryptocurrency farm, DMM has decided to halt all mining operations and focus on its exchange business instead. The company’s trading platform, DMM Bitcoin, is one of the 16 licensed cryptocurrency platforms in Japan. As reported by Nikkei, the withdrawal process, which includes the sale of mining machines, is set to finish by mid-2019. DMM’s mining operations included bitcoin, ethereum, and litecoin.

Alongside the announcement, the company has called off the launch of their cryptocurrency trading app Cointap in order to focus on enhancing their trading platform.