Wayi, a multifaceted Taiwanese digital entertainment company, has announced that it will soon begin accepting Bitcoin orders and will thereafter launch a Bitcoin exchange.
The company, which already operates a gaming platform and online shop, said its Bitcoin operations will launch January 1, 2014.
This makes Wayi the first major Taiwanese company to offer Bitcoin payment. The company currently holds no Bitcoins, it says, but will get the Bitcoins for its exchange from customer transactions. Once it has the digital cash to get started, customers will be charged a 3% fee to process the currency exchange.
Wayi said it will also be working with BitPay to handle orders and “verify the legality of Bitcoin owned by consumers.”
Currently, the only exchange option for local Taiwanese Bitcoin users is to acquire coins via LocalBitcoins.
China, just across the water, has captured many of the Bitcoin headlines this month after its central bank issued a report that sent a chill across the Bitcoin community worldwide.
The central bank’s ruling seems to have altered perceptions as to how Chinese officials were regarding the cryptocurrency, and Bitcoin’s value has yet to approach the valued highs of $1200-plus since that announcement.
For its part, Taiwain’s central bank has said it had “been keeping close tabs” on Bitcoin and would be treating the currency much as it would treat precious metals.