E-Commerce Giant DMM Quits Cryptocurrency Mining Business

Japanese e-commerce giant DMM.com is reportedly in the process of winding down its cryptocurrency mining business, less than a year after it set up the operation.

A news report from Nikkei on Dec. 30 said DMM made the decision to withdraw from mining in September 2018 as the overall cryptocurrency market slump led to deteriorating profitability for the business.

The report added that the withdrawal process, including the sale of its mining machines, could continue until the first half of 2019.

Founded in 1999, DMM is one of the largest e-commerce sites in Japan. It launched a cryptocurrency exchange business, dubbed DMM Bitcoin, in January 2018, which is one of 16 licensed trading platforms in Japan.

In September 2017, DMM announced its plan to set up a mining farm with a goal at the time to become one of the 10 largest mining farms in the world by the end of 2018, and to eventually reach a top-three ranking.

It then began mining cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, ethereum and, litecoin, in February 2018 in Kanazawa, the capital city of the Ishikawa Prefecture, the report said.

The news came just days after Japanese internet giant GMO announced it would halt making its next-generation bitcoin mining machines, after recording an "extraordinary loss" of 35.5 billion yen (or $321.6 million).

On Dec. 25, DMM also announced it would drop the plan of launching another cryptocurrency trading platform called Cointap to focus on improving trading services on DMM Bitcoin.

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