Toyota Systems, the IT arm of Toyota Motor Corporation, is collaborating with Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DeCurret to develop a branded Toyota digital currency, according to an official announcement on Oct. 26. The large-scale pilot will involve 2,500 employees at Toyota Systems. The platform will feature digital currency payments for benefits. According to the announcement, participating employees will be able to exchange the digital currency for benefits points or gifts from a catalog. Toyota Systems noted that the digital currency cannot be exchanged for Japanese yen. The new pilot uses DeCurret’s proprietary blockchain-based platform for issuing and managing digital currencies. The …
This week’s headlines from Japan included Bitbank adding smartphone compatibility for identity verification, Fobi Japan announcing leverage trading, Coincheck announcing order limits, Rakuten Wallet announcing margin trading, and product trading company Marubeni testing blockchain for tracing steel pipes. Check out some of this week’s crypto and blockchain headlines, originally reported by Cointelegraph Japan. BitBank launches smartphone ID verification Japan-based crypto exchange, BitBank, recently added smartphone compatibility for its Know Your Customer, or KYC, practices. Using their smartphone cameras, customers can now snap pictures themselves and related required paperwork for verification. At present, BitBank is only compatible with Apple’s iOS, although …
The Blockchain Transparency Institute (BTI) has released its latest market surveillance report which states that Kraken and Coinbase are among the cleanest cryptocurrency exchanges in the industry. BTI cleans wash trading from exchanges’ volumes On Sept. 19, the Blockchain Transparency Institute published its 5th market surveillance report that verifies reporting of cryptocurrency exchange volumes. The BTI has been publishing reports since August 2018, and through its proprietary algorithm, BTI cleans all wash trading from exchanges’ volumes. The report states: “Since the start of 2019, global wash trading has reduced by 35.7% among the real Top-40 exchanges. The process of sharing …
Five more cryptocurrency exchanges have joined the Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA), according to an official announcement on Jan. 4 from the JVCEA. The JVCEA is a self-regulatory body formed in April by 16 registered crypto exchanges that aims to create industry-wide investor safety standards. In October, Japan’s financial regulator formally granted self-regulatory status to the JVCEA to oversee the crypto sector. The body, made in part as a response to the January 2018 $534 million hack of crypto exchange Coincheck, had released a set of regulatory guidelines in June, including a ban on insider trading and prohibition against …
Japan-based financial services firm SBI Group and Danish cryptography services company Sepior ApS have partnered to jointly develop a proprietary wallet, according to an announcement published Oct. 13. The wallet is set to ensure secure transactions on SBI’s cryptocurrencies exchange platform, VCTRADE. The SBI Group was established in 1999 in Japan as an Internet-based financial services provider. Since then, the company has formed a financial conglomerate with a focus on new technologies, including fintech, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and others. In 2018, SBI reportedly invested over $533 million in the blockchain and AI sectors. Per the press …