Cryptocurrency Exchange Coinbase Expands to Japan

Japan might have got strict with cryptocurrency regulations after incidents such as the Coincheck hack, but this has not stopped Japan from gaining a lot of attention. Coinbase the popular cryptocurrency exchange is expanding into Japan.

Coinbase is an American digital currency exchange with its headquarters in San Francisco, California. It has a global reach of 32 countries and is seen to be the leading cryptocurrency exchanges around the world.

Moving to the land of the rising sun, means stringent regulations due to the new rules of Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA). However, Coinbase is all for regulations and thus is looking forward to preparing itself to enter the more controlled cryptocurrency environment of Japan.

Coinbase’s Vice President, Dan Romero said, “As part of our effort to accelerate the global adoption of cryptocurrency, today we’re announcing the launch of Coinbase’s office in Japan. Under the leadership of the highly-respected and admired fintech leader, Nao Kitazawa, our new office will lay the foundation for Japan’s crypto investors to access a range of Coinbase’s products.”

Nao Kitazawa has tremendous experience having worked as the Chief Operating Officer at Money Design. Money Design is a pioneer of automated investment advice platforms in Japan. He has also worked at Japan’s branch of Morgan Stanley, where he handled mergers and acquisitions in the real estate sector.

Coinbase will have to go through a stringent process under the Payment Services Act of Japan to ensure that they will be allowed to operate.

Coinbase will get the help of Mitsubishi Financial Group (MUFG) in ensuring that operations in Japan go smoothly. MUFG has invested 1 Billion Yen in Coinbase since 2004.

Coinbase is seen to be improving quite aggressively from working closely with regulators for more improved security along with enhancing the platform for institutional investors.

Currently, Coinbase’s only presence in Asia is in Singapore, and so the move to Japan will prove to be an expansion into the Asian market.

With tightened regulations, many exchanges in Japan such as HitBTC and Kraken have closed its services. Thus Coinbase will have a great opportunity, given its stance on regulations for cryptocurrencies.

Trading of Bitcoin against the Japanese Yen is more than 56% of the entire market, which is almost three times more than Bitcoin trading against the US Dollar.

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Source: Toshi Times
Original Post: Cryptocurrency Exchange Coinbase Expands to Japan