New Blockchain trends on Japanese market

Exchanges / Dapps /IEOs

I am at the ST.PETERSBURG INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC FOURM now.It is very honor I could participate the Blockchain session as special guest from Japan. Let me share about current Japanese trends here on my blog as well !!

Let me share with you 3points about the Japanese blockchain market today.

First, I am going to talk about the trend of crypto exchanges and how regulators are going to regulate crypto.So, right now, Japan is going to revise a law and make new regulation for crypto.The content of this revision includes more ways to protect customer’s asset, exchanges are required to manage 100% of customer’s asset in cold wallet, and regulations equivalent to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act which also applies to stock and those traditional financial product, will be required for crypto as well.

I know this is tightening the regulation, and from the decentralization, I feel little bit sad but if we see this regulation from the viewpoint of someone who want to do business relates to crypto, I think it is possible to say by this regulation ,the rule for crypto becomes clear and make everyone understandable what is illegal and what is legal.I think now it is easier for new comer to join this industry and start business, and this will lower the barrier for new customers to enter into this market and experience the world of crypto.Also, clear regulation will enable security companies and institutional investors to enter this market. As you know, three biggest exchanges hacked happened in Japan.

Coincheck (.5 billion USD/ more than half a billion dollars)

Mt.Gox (350 million USD)

Zaif (60 million) .

And what happened was very sad because Japanese investors lost trust from these incidents.Luckily, we learned from those incidents and use the knowledge and experience to keep the market from collapsing and helping a better future for cryptocurrency.

After the coincheck hacking, which means since January 2018, no new coin was listed in any licensed exchanges in Japan. What is worse, some currencies were forced to delisted on exchanges.

But, about 16 months after the hacking, JVCEA(Japan Virtual Currencies Exchanges Association) announced, they might start the review process to list new crypto currency on Japanese exchanges, and now every exchanges are working hard to list new currency on their exchanges.

Since the regulation is very strict, there are only about 15 currencies listed on Japanese exchanges, but if the number increased, it will activate the Japanese market.

Also, for development, Japanese engineers couldn’t use protocols not on the whitelist, which is a list of crypto currencies authorized by the FSA. So, for example, if a developer developed an application on Ethereum and wanted to support several blockchains, they cannot choose EOS or TRON, because they are not listed on the whitelist.

This situation will be resolved soon, since the number of currencies listed on the whitepaper will increase. About ICOs, reform of the payment service act passed the House of Representatives last week, and now being reviewed at House of Councilors. And as far as I know, the House of Councilors will pass the law soon. So, ICO will be legal in Japan in 2019, and it is said that they are going to allow STO in next year.

So next I want to talk the trends on Japanese market. So, as everyone here knows, Japan has a very original Otaku culture. and blockchain and this Otaku culture is start collaborating.

Do you know about the “Attack on Titan”?

As an example of this collaboration, a company called Anique starts a project using blockchain to manage digital cell drawing of the “Attack on Titan” which is one of the most popular Japanese comic book and going to be filmed by Hollywood.

For next example, the most popular blockchain game in the world is from Japan ,The title of the game is “My Crypto Heroes”, it is a game using NFT and having very strong community in the world. After this conference please download the application!!

For the last example, these is a coin called Otaku coin, this project is trying to make a token economy for otaku.

The estimated market size of anime is 200 million dollar, and this is only for anime. So, if we add comic book and game, the size is much bigger.

This clearly shows this Otaku community has huge scale from the viewpoint of GDP and population, and I am so looking forward to see how blockchain and crypto currency can expand this economy.

In the end, I would like to talk about IEO on Japanese market.I am an advisor of BitPoint which is a licensed crypto currency exchange in Japan. BitPoint is very positive for listing new token and coordinating both ICOs and IEOs.

But IEOs in Japan will probably be different from the current ones such as Binance pad and other exchanges.

The reason is if a completely new project wants to do IEO in Japan, I m sure it will take long time for approval.

In reality, Japanese exchanges like BitPoint can list a token which is already listed on several exchanges with

A) minimum amount of trading volume

B) clear business models and token utility etc… and when the token is officially approved, exchanges can sell that token from an IEO.

For example, BitPoint has 4 standards for their new listing.

First, the daily trading volume of the token must have at least 1 million dollars .

Second, from the viewpoint of AML, anonymous token cannot be accepted.

Third, the token must be listed on at least 2 exchanges and BitPoint can trade by system through API of those exchanges.

Forth, the project need to cooperate making the screening document they have to submit to FSA.

Im lucky to be one of the few people with 8 years experience directly with Japanese crypto communities, You can really trust my experience and understanding of this space.

I m really passionate about serving foreign projects and building Japanese communities.And I am sure that my commitment, consistency and track record in this industry from 2011, will bring great results.

Since Japan is a very unique market, you really need to connect with the community.

And, since the crypto winter seems over, now many Japanese crypto investors are coming back .But if you want to do business in Japan, you must follow the rules of the industry, because Financial Service Agency of Japan is very careful about Japanese people Investing in foreign crypto currency projects.

The secret of successful business in Japan is following the rules and regulators…

I m lucky to know some of the most talented Japanese people in many areas, and we trust each other 100%. I am the one who can introduce you to these people and coordinate a long standing business in Japan.

So, if you want to do anything in Japan, please contact me.

ありがとう！