Canadian cryptocurrency exchange Coinsquare has announced its plan to enter the Japanese market pending approval by the country’s financial regulator. The new exchange will be launched under the Dlta21x brand. It will focus on Japan initially but has plans to expand into other Asian markets.
Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space
Coinsquare Launching in Japan
Coinsquare made two announcements on Tuesday. One is the official launch of Coinsquare Licensing to “enable domestic and international businesses to offer a digital currency trading solution powered by Coinsquare’s technology.” The company also revealed that it has already partnered with some businesses in the EU and Canada to launch white-labeled platforms.
The other announcement is its plan to enter the Japanese market using Coinsquare Licensing. The launch will be in collaboration with Dlta 21 Blockchain Corp (Dlta21), formerly Protos Blockchain Corp. According to the companies:
The new trading platform is to be launched under the Dlta21x brand name after receiving all required regulatory approvals in Japan.
Founded in 2014, Coinsquare offers the trading of BTC, BCH, ETH, LTC, DOGE, and DASH. The exchange claims to be “Canada’s most secure digital currency trading platform,” with a “95% cold storage policy on all digital currency.” The company also owns Coinsquare Mining with operations in Québec.
Dlta21 is a venture capital firm focused on blockchain startups. The company invests in “early-stage distributed ledger technology startups” and manages “a cryptocurrency trading operation backed by advanced quantitative algorithms,” its website describes.
International Expansion
The two companies say, “while customers in Japan will be the initial focus of the Dlta21x cryptocurrency exchange, based on applicable laws, regulations and restrictions, going forward Dlta21x plans to expand to other Asian markets as well.”
Earlier this year, Coinsquare unveiled its plan for an initial public offering in September “to help finance an overseas expansion.” For its expansion into the U.S. and the U.K., CEO Cole Diamond was quoted by the Financial Post saying:
We believe that we will be a strong competitor to Coinbase and other exchanges in the U.S. by the end of the year.
The Japanese Crypto Market
Currently, Japan has 16 government-approved cryptocurrency exchanges and a number of “deemed dealers” that have been allowed to operate crypto platforms while their applications are being reviewed by the country’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA).
However, since the hack of Coincheck in January, the FSA has drastically tightened its oversight of the industry. It has already sanctioned a number of deemed dealers and recently ordered six licensed exchanges to improve their businesses, including the country’s largest crypto exchange by volume, Bitflyer.
Despite the increased oversight and stricter exchange approval process, the FSA confirmed to news.Bitcoin.com:
More than 100 [crypto] operators have expressed their intention of enter the market.
Among major companies seeking to enter the Japanese market is Line Corp, the operator of the country’s most popular chat app, Line. The company recently announced that it is launching a crypto exchange, Bitbox. However, since its application with the FSA is still pending, Line will not offer services in Japan initially.
What do you think of Coinsquare expanding into Japan and other Asian markets? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Dlta21, and Coinsquare.
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