A publicly listed company in Japan that is a shareholder of one of the country’s first cryptocurrency exchanges says it is exploring new use cases for its digital asset. FISCO is planning to roll out lending for the FISCO Coin (FSCC) — with multiple businesses set to be involved. The company is also going to launch a platform that’s home to a range of DApps, all of which will be positioned as tools to make FSCC more valuable. These DApps are being established as part of a joint venture that also includes the IT development company Kuskim, as well as …

Haruhiko Kuroda, governor of the Bank of Japan, has joined the roll call of central bankers taking aim at Bitcoin (BTC) amid the current volatility. According to a report by Bloomberg on Friday, Kuroda argued against the value proposition of the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, stating: “Most of the trading is speculative and volatility is extraordinarily high. It’s barely used as a means of settlement.” The BOJ governor’s criticism comes as Bitcoin experienced an over 50% drawdown from its $64,000 all-time-high price milestone achieved back in mid-April. Indeed, several central bankers have taken Bitcoin’s current price wobble as an …

Japanese financial giant SBI Group more than doubled the total profit of its cryptocurrency business during the fiscal year that ended in March. On Wednesday, SBI released a report on the company’s financial results, disclosing that its pre-tax crypto-powered profits during the past fiscal year amounted to 18.9 billion yen ($174 million). The amount is 10 billion yen ($92 million) higher than the total pre-tax total profit recorded over the previous fiscal year, SBI said. SBI’s crypto division features several companies, including crypto trading platform SBI VC Trade, mining arm SBI Crypto, and newly acquired crypto trading platforms like TaoTao …

Major Japanese game developer Nexon has become the latest publicly listed firm to make a significant investment into Bitcoin (BTC). On Wednesday, Nexon announced it had purchased 1,717 BTC for roughly $100 million at an average price of $58,226 each after fees. The firm noted the investment represents less than 2% of its “total cash and cash equivalents on hand.” Owen Mahoney, president and CEO of Nexon, stated: “Our purchase of Bitcoin reflects a disciplined strategy for protecting shareholder value and for maintaining the purchasing power of our cash assets. In the current economic environment, we believe Bitcoin offers long-term …

The virtual 7th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum was jointly hosted by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan and the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network with the theme “Enabling Resilience for All: The Critical Decade to Scale-up Action.” The forum took place in March and was held to formulate national adaptation planning for science and technology, and energy and fiscal policies that consider the interlinkages between climate change, health and biodiversity. These nature- and ecosystem-based policies will serve as the basis for the Asia-Pacific region’s contributions to the Leaders Summit on Climate in the United States; the United Nations Biodiversity …

The Japanese central bank has launched a proof of concept for its central bank digital currency, according to an official announcement on Monday. Following initial preparations to test the technical feasibility of core CBDC functions and features in early 2021, the Bank of Japan is beginning CBDC testing in its first phase today. During this phase, the bank plans to develop a test environment for the CBDC system and conduct experiments on basic functions related to payment, issuance, distribution and redemption of a CBDC. According to the announcement, this phase is expected to have been completed by March 2022. The …

Japan has made another step toward adopting cryptocurrency Anti-Money Laundering regulations developed by the Financial Action Task Force, Cointelegraph Japan reports. The Japanese Financial Services Agency announced Wednesday that it will adopt the FATF’s Travel Rule — a set of regulations requiring virtual asset service providers to share transaction data for senders and recipients — by April 2022. “It is required to introduce and implement the Travel Rule regulations in each country,” the FSA noted. The FSA requested the Japanese Virtual Currency Exchange Association, a local self-regulatory crypto organization, to prepare for the implementation of the Travel Rule: “From the …

Japan-based bank Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, or SMTB, has launched its first asset-backed securities token in partnership with Securitize on March 29. The instrument is the first security token compliant with the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA) to launch in the Japanese Market. The token has received an “a-1 rating” from Japanese rating agency, Rating and Investment Information, Inc, suggesting the product is very likely to fulfill its short-term obligations. The token was created by tokenizing paper-based beneficiary certificates representing investor ownership to an underlying asset. SMTB has also created a trust company to manage its underlying securitized investments. …

China and Japan are pushing forward with their respective pilots for central bank-issued digital currencies, or CBDCs. On March 26, Bank of Japan announced it had established the Liaison and Coordination Committee on Central Bank Digital Currency to convene with both the private sector on the banks upcoming CBDC proof-of-concept, or PoC, stating: “The Bank, through this committee, will share details of, and provide updates on the PoC with the private sector and the government and will seek consultation on future steps to facilitate smooth implementation of the PoC.” The announcement also noted the bank has been preparing to conduct …

SBI Crypto, the mining subsidiary of Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings, has opened its mining pool to the general public. As one of the fruits of a strategic partnership between SBI and the German tech firm Northern Data AG, the pool reportedly now ranks 11th globally, according to SBI's announcement on March 19. It mines three assets, Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin SV (BSV), with a revenue measured in dollars per terahash per day of $0.3897, $0.3805 and $0.3519 respectively. Prior to its partnership with Northern Data AG and the Texas-based data center operator Whinstone US back in …

Japan is taking a measured but attentive approach to global interest in central bank digital currency issuance. In his latest remarks published on Tuesday, Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda Haruhiko noted that the institution has not changed its stance and still does not currently have a concrete plan to issue a CBDC. However, this non-commitment does not mean inactivity on the CBDC research and development front by any means. In October 2020, Japan's central bank pledged to begin the first of several testing phases for its own CBDC proof-of-concept. Haruhiko has now confirmed that these are due to begin this …

Morningstar, a financial information services subsidiary of Japanese financial giant SBI Group, will continue its XRP shareholder benefits program. According to an official announcement Friday, Morningstar has approved year-end shareholder benefits in the form of XRP. The new dividend payout option comes as part of the company’s year-end reward program to thank its shareholders for their continued support in addition to interim shareholder benefits. Under the program, Morningstar will provide XRP rewards of 2,500 Japanese yen ($23) units per 100 shares owned by shareholders as of March 31, 2021. The exact amount of XRP offered to shareholders will be determined …