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, …

A former Bank of Japan (BOJ) official who reportedly headed the digital currency research is now advising against its use. According to a report published in the Japan Times, Hiromi Yamaoka, the former head of the BOJ’s financial settlement department, advised against using the digital yen as a part of the country's monetary policy. Yamaoka’s biggest concern lies with the negative interest rates and believes once the digital yen becomes a prominent tool for mass payments, the common public would have to bear the brunt of the depleting value of the fiat currency. He went on to warn that the …

The holding company behind DeCurret, the Japan-based company offering trading and exchanges of digital assets, reportedly plans to sell its crypto business to investment platform Amber Group. According to a Wednesday report from the Nikkei newspaper, DeCurret Holdings intends to sell the crypto branch of its business to the Hong Kong-based company Amber Group in February. Though the details of the acquisition are unclear, the news outlet reported that the sale price would be in the millions of dollars. DeCurret established a new business structure in December 2021, launching a holding company, DeCurret Holdings, and separating its digital currency and …

The leadership at video game firm Sega Corporation’s holding company has suggested that they may avoid nonfungible tokens in play-to-earn model games based on the response from users. In a Dec. 14 meeting of Sega Sammy Holdings’ CEO Haruki Satomi, senior executive vice president Koichi Fukazawa, and Sega Corporation President Yukio Sugino, the trio said they needed to “carefully assess” how to potentially introduce nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, into Sega titles to “mitigate the negative elements” and work within Japanese regulations. The executives cited “negative reactions” from users overseas rewarded in NFTs for gameplay. “In terms of NFT, we would …

SBI Digital Asset Holdings, a fully owned subsidiary of Japanese banking giant SBI Holdings, announced a joint crypto venture with Switzerland’s SIX digital exchange (SDX). The joint venture would be set up in Singapore through a crypto issuance company and aims to become a regional liquidity hub for institutions. SBI Holdings CEO Yoshitaka Kitao said: “This is an important step in building the necessary global infrastructure for widespread institutional adoption of digital assets. Together with SDX‘s strength in Switzerland and our planned digital exchange in Osaka, this venture will establish a powerful institutional corridor between Europe and Asia.” The partnership …

At least one out of four cryptocurrency investors in Japan had an experience of holding nonfungible tokens (NFTs), according to a new survey. Major Japanese crypto exchange BitBank conducted an online survey diving into the NFT investment trends in the Japanese cryptocurrency market. Releasing the survey results on Nov. 25, BitBank said that it polled 2,061 cryptocurrency users within a period from Oct. 26 to Nov. 1, 2021. The respondents included clients of BitBank as well as crypto holders polled randomly via Twitter, a spokesperson for the firm told Cointelegraph. The survey results suggest that as many as 26% of …

A consortium of roughly 70 Japanese companies, including the country’s biggest financial institutions, have joined forces to trial and launch a new yen-based digital currency in fiscal 2022, sending a strong signal that the private sector was embracing blockchain-based payment systems. The new digital currency, dubbed “DCJPY,” will be backstopped by bank deposits and rely on a common platform to expedite large fund transfers and settlements among the participating companies, according to Kazuhiro Tokia, the chief executive of cryptocurrency exchange DeCurret. DeCurret is leading the consortium, which includes banks Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial …

Blockchain innovation is surging throughout Southeast Asia, as the region is home to a number of fintech firms and global crypto companies. In particular, Singapore has become one of the world’s most crypto-friendly countries. This was recently highlighted in a report conducted by crypto exchange Gemini, which found that 67% of 4,348 respondents currently own crypto. The report further noted that Ether (ETH) is the most popular cryptocurrency in the region, with 78% of surveyors claiming to own the digital asset. Interestingly enough, the Ethereum blockchain may also be the network of choice for financial institutions based in Southeast Asia. …

The rehabilitation plan to compensate creditors from the now-defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox is now finalized following confirmation from a Japanese court. According to a Nov. 16 announcement from Mt. Gox trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi, the rehabilitation plan originally filed in the Tokyo District Court in February is now “final and binding.” The confirmation order of the rehabilitation plan in Japan’s court system is one of the final steps in a long process starting with a 2018 petition to compensate creditors of the exchange, which collapsed in early 2014. Kobayashi said he would be in touch with “details of the specific …

Circle, the United States-based issuer of USD Coin (USDC), has set its sights on thriving Asian crypto markets. In a move to strengthen its presence in Asia, Circle picked Singapore to establish a regional headquarters. The company is also setting up an investment arm called Circle Ventures, according to Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire’s interview with Bloomberg. The venture arm’s first investment will focus on a Japanese yen stablecoin. Allaire said the company sees substantial opportunities in the Asian markets, where he expects to see strong adoption of stablecoins in borrowing and lending markets. He added that the inflation environment and …

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Liquid has announced that its subsidiary firm, Quoine Corporation, has acquired a Type I Financial Instruments Business license under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act from the Japanese regulatory authorities. The approval will allow Liquid to commence derivatives trading on its platform, offering investment opportunities to both retail and institutional clients, although a specific date for launch was not disclosed. Founded in 2014, Liquid is one of the world’s largest crypto-fiat exchanges with in excess of 800,000 customers and a reported highest daily trade volume of $1.1 billion across 2021. The platform operates under Japan's Payment Services …

Creditors from the now-defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox have overwhelmingly approved a rehabilitation plan to compensate them for billions in lost Bitcoin. According to a Wednesday announcement from Mt. Gox trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi, roughly 99% of the creditors affected by the collapse of the Japan-based crypto exchange approved of the draft rehabilitation plan originally filed in the Tokyo District Court in February. In addition, he reported claimants representing roughly 83% of the total amount of voting rights voted in favor of the plan. The decision follows an Oct. 8 vote from thousands of Mt. Gox users whose losses are estimated …