Amazon rival Rakuten, a Japan-based online retailer which has been expanding around the world in recent years, has begun accepting registrations for its new bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange, Rakuten Wallet—with bitcoin and cryptocurrency investors hoping other technology companies, such as U.S. online retail giant Amazon, will follow suit. Rakuten, a sprawling company with operations across e-commerce, online banking, media and communications, has shown interest in bitcoin and cryptocurrencies for some time, with the company saying last year "the role of cryptocurrency-based payments in e-commerce, offline ... (full story)