Major Japanese exchange Huobi is asking its users to vote before August 16 on which new cryptocurrencies they would like to see listed. According to an update on the Huobi website posted on July 16, the Japan-based exchange is considering adding Enjin (ENJ), IOS Token (IOST), Neo (NEO), Ontology (ONT), Qtum (QTUM), and Tezos (XTZ). Huobi account holders started voting on which tokens they want to see listed on the exchange on July 16. Users are granted one vote per account every Friday for a maximum of five votes. Voting will end at midnight on August 16. The Japanese crypto …

The Japanese government is expected to include consideration of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in its official economic plan. The news comes 10 days after the Bank of Japan’s announcement that it will start experimenting with the digital yen to check its feasibility from a technical perspective. According to Nikkei, the consideration of CBDC will be included in the Honebuto Plan for Economic and Fiscal Revitalization. The Honebuto Plan is the basis for Japan’s economic and fiscal policy and the report says the Japanese government “will consider a CBDC while coordinating with other countries”. Japan and CBDC After China …

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, or MUFGt, the fifth largest bank in the world, is reportedly planning to issue its own digital currency in the second half of 2020. Initiated back in 2015, the digital currency project was originally designed to run on a blockchain network and facilitate instant peer-to-peer transactions. Following multiple delays, the initiative is now scheduled to be rolled out no later than 2020, Cointelegraph Japan reports on July 13. “We think that everyone will be able to use it openly” Hironori Kamezawa, president and CEO at MUFG, announced the new plans on Monday to local news agency, …

Investors in Japan increased their crypto holdings during the early stages of the pandemic before the government issued economic relief payments. According to a July 13 report from Japanese news outlet Nikkei, the Bank of Japan revealed that the supply of M3 in the country — a measure of various money stock in circulation — increased 5.9% in June to $13.5 trillion. The amount of liquid assets available to residents of Japan has increased following the government issuing 100,000 yen — roughly $936 — stimulus payments to individuals, 300,000 yen to some households, and other payments to companies in response …

Digital currency payments may become a reality for G20 members before the next summit in Saudi Arabia. As reported by Kyodo News on July 11, officials revealed that the G20 summit compromising representatives from 19 countries and the European Union will be laying the groundwork to accept digital payments. The changes are expected to begin in October, presumably at the G20 Finance Ministerial and Deputies Meetings in Washington DC and before the next summit in Riyadh in November. According to the Japanese news outlet, G20 officials enacted the policy change in response to China’s progress on creating a digital yuan, …

This week’s headlines from Japan included real estate player Tosei and Tokyo Financial Holdings listing an asset-backed digital financial product, Cointelegraph Japan interviewing a former Japanese central bank staffer, Coinage registering as an exchange with Japan's financial services agency, and a life insurance company testing digital asset billing transaction. Check out some of this week’s crypto and blockchain headlines, originally reported by Cointelegraph Japan. Tosei and Tokyo Financial Holdings launch a digital securities product Real estate outfit Tosei and Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings, hold plans for a digital securities product. The pair "will list digital securities backed by the rental …

The Japan Virtual and Crypto Assets Exchange Association (JVCEA) — a self-regulatory organization for the crypto industry in Japan — recently published a report on Japanese holdings of major cryptocurrencies in March. 169,376 BTC was held on Japanese exchanges, up more than 11% from the previous month. XRP was up 6.4% to 3.2 billion XRP. Ether was up more than 5.7% to 1.14 million ETH. Moreover, the number of Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Monacoin (MONA), Litecoin (LTC), and NEM (XEM) also increased slightly in March. The volume of Bitcoin spot trading was 617.3 billion yen (about $5.8 billion) in March, 11 …

The Cardano Foundation — the organization behind major cryptocurrency Cardano (ADA) — warned that a suspicious firm is trying to rake in investments by claiming it has contacts with the foundation. On July 9, the foundation stated that someone claiming to be from or contracted by crypto exchange BTCNEXT professes to personally know the Cardano core members as a way to reassure that investments will be safe. A BTCNEXT representative told Cointelegraph that the person in question does not have any relationship with the company. In fact, she said that they are familiar with the individual behind the claims and …

BitFlyer, the biggest crypto exchange in Japan in terms of trading volume, has announced a partnership with Brave, the privacy-protecting browser. According to the announcement, BitFlyer and Brave will develop “a crypto asset wallet for Brave browser users”. No further details about the new crypto wallet have been made available. Japanese users of Brave browser are rewarded with Basic Attention Token Points (BAP), due to regulations that prevent them from earning the cryptocurrency BAT, or trading their points for money on exchanges. The announcement is likely to fuel speculation that the new crypto wallet could pave the way to enable …

Monex Securities, a major Japanese online securities company, launched a cryptocurrency contract-for-difference service today. This marks the first time that a major online Japanese securities company has offered a crypto CFD. A CFD is a type of derivative in which the "buyer" of the contract pays the "seller" the difference between the current price of an asset and the price of that asset at a future date stipulated in the contract. According to a Monex announcement on July 8, the CFD is available for Bitcoin (BTC)/yen, Ether (ETH)/yen, XRP/yen, and Bitcoin Cash (BCH)/yen trading pairs. The leverage rate limit is …

A crypto-sympathetic official has been named as the next leader of Japan`s Financial Services Agency. Jiji Press reported on July 7 that the Japanese government has decided to appoint Ryozo Himino to the next commissioner of Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA). The official announcement will be made this month. Cointelegraph has reached out to FSA to confirm the news but has not received replies yet. Himino, currently the International Financial Deputy Counselor, is known on the international stage. Last September, he became the first Japanese Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Financial Stability Board (FSB). FSA’s new leader and …

The biggest pension fund in the world lost $164.7 billion in the first quarter of 2020. This is equivalent to the entire market capitalization for Bitcoin (BTC). Bitcoin didn’t do any better Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund, or GPIF, decreased in value by almost 11% to 150.63 trillion yen or $1.4 trillion. This was the fund’s steepest quarterly decline since 2008. Dow Jones & BTC. Source: Yahoo Finance. GPIF was not alone in its poor performance, major stock indexes like Dow Jones posted negative numbers. Interestingly, Bitcoin’s performance was almost identical, where its price from January 1 to March 31 …