Major Japanese Fintech Company Reveals Plans to Launch Crypto Exchange This Year

Published at: May 23, 2018

Money Forward Inc., the operator of one of Japan’s most popular personal budgeting apps, has announced its plans to launch a crypto asset exchange this year, in a company press release Wednesday, May 23.

A new subsidiary, MF Financial Co., Ltd., that launched today will be devoted to the company’s new crypto exchange project, and will be headed by a member of Money Forward’s Blockchain and Virtual Currency Laboratory.

The press release outlines MF’s plans to first launch a crypto media platform by summer 2018, followed by a crypto asset exchange and the construction of a digital assets remittance and settlement system, which the MF Laboratory has been researching since December 2017.

As of late 2017, the Tokyo-based company reportedly has 5.5 mln users, with over 500,000 Japanese businesses and 2,400 accounting firms using its cloud-based software for their tax accounting and invoices.

The company today also announced improved tools for its customers who currently use cryptocurrencies, providing them with an automated crypto accounts book that can be supported with data from twenty domestic and foreign crypto exchanges. The new tools also simplify users’ crypto tax return filings, by giving them an automated profit and loss calculation tool for their transaction histories.

Major Japanese financial institutions are increasingly making inroads in facilitating the country’s booming cryptocurrency sector. Just yesterday, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), the world’s fifth largest bank by total assets, successfully piloted a cross-border payment using a Thai bank’s Blockchain Interledger.

In the past two weeks, MUFG has also revealed that it is partnering with a US cloud delivery platform to launch a blockchain-based global payment network, as well as announcing plans to trial its own cryptocurrency by 2019. Meanwhile, Japan-based global investment bank Nomura last week announced its venture to establish a custodian solution for digital assets, targeting institutional investment in the crypto space.

Tags
Adoption
Bitcoin
Cryptocurrency Exchange
Cryptocurrencies
Japan
Related Posts
Japanese Messaging Giant Line Rolls Out Crypto Trading Platform Bitmax
Japanese messaging giant Line launched its new crypto trading platform Bitmax on Sept. 17, Cointelegraph Japan reports. FSA approval received Following regulatory approval to operate a crypto exchange in early September, Line’s blockchain arm LVC Corporation officially introduced its newly launched crypto platform today. In accordance with previous announcement, Bitmax will initially allow users to trade five major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), XRP, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC). Small transactions for newcomers With exposure to 81 million users in Japan, Line now accepts deposits and withdrawals through its mobile payment service, Line Pay, while crypto trading service …
Adoption / Sept. 17, 2019
SBI’s Crypto Exchange SBIVC Achieves Profits in First Fiscal Year, Considers STO
New Japanese crypto exchange SBI Virtual Currencies (SBIVC) achieved profitability in the first year of its launch, Cointelegraph Japan reports on April 26. SBIVC exchange, launched by Tokyo-based financial services giant SBI Holdings, reportedly recorded a profit before tax of almost 360 million Japanese yen ($3.2 million) for the full fiscal year from April 2018 to March 31, 2019. SBI also made a number of major announcements in its new financial report. As such, SBI revealed that it is considering the launch of a security token offering (STO) later this year, adding that the firm is awaiting the revision of …
Adoption / April 26, 2019
FTX acquires Japan's FCA-licensed crypto exchange Liquid
American billionaire and CEO of crypto exchange FTX Sam Bankman-Fried announced that his company acquired Japanese crypto firm Liquid Group and its subsidiaries. As a part of the deal, FTX will acquire Quoine Corporation, a Financial Services Agency (FSA)-approved crypto exchange. As Cointelegraph previously reported, Quoine acquired a Type I Financial Instruments Business license under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act from the Japanese regulatory authorities. FTX is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Liquid group of companies, including an FSA-registered crypto-asset exchange to provide products and services to our customers in Japan! https://t.co/rO5TznWFCU — SBF (@SBF_FTX) February 2, …
Adoption / Feb. 2, 2022
CBDC is a tool to combat Bitcoin, says Bank of Indonesia exec
Central bank digital currencies (CBDC), digital versions of national currencies introduced in response to growing cryptocurrency adoption, would be an essential tool for combating crypto, according to the Bank of Indonesia. The central bank of Indonesia is considering launching a digital rupiah to “fight” against cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Bank of Indonesia’s assistant governor Juda Agung said at a recent parliamentary meeting. “A CBDC would be one of the tools to fight crypto. We assume that people would find CBDC more credible than crypto. CBDC would be part of an effort to address the use of crypto in financial transactions,” …
Adoption / Nov. 30, 2021
Top 5 cryptocurrencies to watch this week: BTC, MANA, MKR, ZEC, KCS
Bitcoin (BTC) has been relatively calm during the weekend as crypto traders try to rebuild the markets after the Terra LUNA debacle. With macro factors not supportive, several analysts expect the recovery to be a slow grind. Crypto research firm Delphi Digital said in a recent report that the rally in the United States dollar index (DXY) had pushed its 14-month relative strength index “above 70 for the first time since its late 2014 to 2016 run up.” Historically, 11 out of 14 such instances had resulted in the DXY rising about 5.7% over the following 12 months. If the …
Adoption / May 16, 2022