Tagged: japan

February 19, 2020 @ 11:32 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (MUFG) is set to invest more than $700 million in Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Grab. According to Bloomberg, the MUFG intends to market a range of financial services from insurance to loans to Grab’s users. Founded in 2012, Grab… Read More

February 17, 2020 @ 11:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

SoftBank, a Japan-based global conglomerate holding firm with over $283 billion in assets, will reportedly be adding another $1 billion this year to its $5 billion Latin America Fund, which was launched last year. The Tokyo-headquartered company added $1.6 billion to the fund in 2019…. Read More

February 3, 2020 @ 9:57 am By Omar Faridi  |  

US residents now have another zero-fee option to purchase Bitcoin (BTC) using the US dollar. On January 30, 2020, Tokyo-headquartered digital asset exchange bitFlyer introduced its commission-free service for the BTC/USD trading pair to its US-based clients. bitFlyer’s zero-fee feature is currently only being offered… Read More

February 2, 2020 @ 6:05 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Bank of Japan (BoJ), the nation’s central bank, has been working on a virtual currency project for several years. The BoJ must be prepared to issue digital currencies if technical innovations in international settlement systems will increase consumer demand, the bank’s deputy governor noted… Read More

February 2, 2020 @ 4:40 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

LVC Corporation, a subsidiary of LINE Corporation and manager of LINE’s digital currency and blockchain-focused ventures, recently confirmed its plans to begin trading its virtual currency in Japan by April 2020. LINE is the company behind Japanese social media network Line, which notably has more… Read More

February 1, 2020 @ 4:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Japan-headquartered SBI Holdings, a major financial services company, has reportedly invested $20 million in OpenLegacy Technologies, a US-based software development company that streamlines the API integration process of core banking systems. Citi, FIS and BNP Paribas-Cardif are notably among the major clients for OpenLegacy’s platform,… Read More

January 26, 2020 @ 7:17 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Tokopedia, an Indonesia-based e-commerce marketplace, is reportedly in the final stages of closing an investment round valued at around $1.5 billion from Japan’s Softbank, China’s Alibaba Group and Singapore-based Temasek. The Tokopedia marketplace, which is notably the largest of its kind in Indonesia, is now… Read More

January 25, 2020 @ 10:30 am By Omar Faridi  |  

A group of around 70 Japanese lawmakers from the nation’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is reportedly preparing a proposal that recommends issuing a virtual currency. Norihiro Nakayama, a member of the party and parliamentary vice-minister for foreign affairs, stated (on January 24): “China is moving… Read More

January 16, 2020 @ 6:49 pm By Cali Haan  |  

One of the world’s most famous cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance, will no longer be serving cryptocurrency speculators in Japan. Binance made the announcement on its Japanese language page. The announcement, according to an automated translation, reads: “Thank you for always patronizing Binance. Binance.com will be phasing… Read More

January 16, 2020 @ 9:25 am By Cali Haan  |  

Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) plans to further reduce allowable limits on leveraged cryptocurrency bets, down from 4X of customer deposits to 2X. Japan’s Cabinet voted to greatly reduce leveraged crypto trades on local platforms last April. At that time, permitted leveraged trades were reduced… Read More

December 31, 2019 @ 2:53 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Japan-based JCB, an established business to business (B2B) payments company, is teaming up with the Singapore blockchain tech solution developer Keychain, in order to deploy DLT-based platforms in the country’s payments industry. According to a press release, Keychain is creating a new data security framework… Read More

December 20, 2019 @ 9:48 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

FIS (NYSE: FIS) announced on Thursday it has entered into an agreement with JCB, a global payment network. Through the agreement, FIS’ global e-commerce platform, WorldPay, will allow businesses that are operating in Japan to accept payments by JCB cards and will now provide an… Read More

December 20, 2019 @ 8:00 am By Cali Haan  |  

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck, which sustained a $534 million USD hack last January, has decided to stop offering leveraged trades of cryptocurrencies on its platform. According to a company blog post: “Coincheck has decided to end the “leverage transaction” service on Friday, March 13, 2020…If… Read More

December 15, 2019 @ 10:41 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Western Union (NYSE: WU) announced last week it is launching its cross-border payment services in Japan. The company notably partnered with remittance company City Express to launch the service to enable global used-car customers to buy from BE FORWARD, which is one of Japan’s used-car… Read More

December 10, 2019 @ 12:20 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Sensely, a U.S. startup that has created avatar and chatbot-based platforms to assist insurance plan members and patients with insurance services and healthcare resources, announced on Tuesday it has been selected for the next batch of Plug and Play’s Insurtech program in Japan. According to… Read More

December 7, 2019 @ 1:05 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Securitize, a platform for the issuance and management of compliant, blockchain-based digital securities, has reportedly acquired a Japanese consulting and development firm focused on distributed ledger technology, called BUIDL, in order to further expand its operations in Japan. We just announced at the Global Brain… Read More

December 5, 2019 @ 6:17 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Japan-based cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer announced on Thursday the launch of Instant Buy on its Buy/Sell exchange platform in Europe. The exchange reported that the feature, which is available on desktop and smartphone, allows users to buy cryptocurrency directly from bitFlyer, using a credit card, debit… Read More

November 18, 2019 @ 7:18 am By JD Alois  |  

iSTOX, a regulated capital markets platform that provides digital security issuance and trading, has raised $5 million in funding from Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings. According to a release from iSTOX, the funding also brings a valuable partnership that provides a gateway to accredited and institutional… Read More

November 8, 2019 @ 2:52 am By JD Alois  |  

The Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Digital Asset Exchange Association (IDAXA). This is the eighth national trade association in the sector to align with IDAXA. The goal is to provide a unified voice for… Read More

November 6, 2019 @ 8:52 pm By JD Alois  |  

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) (NYSE:MUFG) has established the Security Token Research Consortium (ST Research Consortium) to develop next-generation financial transaction services using blockchain technology. Japan has emerged as a robust market for the development of blockchain technology. MUFG  is one of the largest financial… Read More