Coinbase, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange based in the US is moving aggressively with its expansion plans. Latest in line with its expansion strategy, the exchange has made significant inroads into Asia by opening a new office in Japan. This will also lay a foundation stone for Japan’s crypto investor to access Coinbase’s services.
The exchange through its new office in Japan will initially seek to complete the registration of the exchange services with Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA). The exchange has appointed former investment banker at Morgan Stanley, Nao Kitazawa in the position of CEO, Coinbase Japan. Mr Nao has been tasked to complete all the legal and regulatory requirement for the exchange in the new country, to Coinbase in the right side of the law.
Unlike China and India, Japan has a very friendly attitude towards the cryptocurrency space and is considered a safe harbour among cryptoasset exchanges. By successfully adding Coinbase to the domestic cryptocurrency sector, Japan will continue to quest to become a global cryptocurrency hub. Coinbase will also boast another big asset in the sector. Coinbase has an advantage over many of its peers in the sector in terms of security and popularity.
On successful acquisition of licenses in Japan, Coinbase is likely to partner with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. as a banking partner. MUFG has invested in the exchange back in 2016 to support its international expansion efforts.
Coinbase currently operates in 32 countries has over 20 million customers and is very aggressive with its expansion plan to stay ahead of the competition. Recently it has acquired Paradex, a peer to peer trading platform for the ERC20 tokens, that is built over 0x protocol. The exchange company is also stepping up its effort to acquire startup blockchain and crypto projects to fuel its growth.
A blog post by Coinbase reads:
“As in other markets, we plan to take a deliberate approach to our rollout in Japan, which means working hand-in-hand with the Japanese FSA to ensure compliance with local laws at every stage. Nao’s passion for cryptocurrency combined with his extensive background provides Coinbase with a great foundation to successfully push into the largest cryptocurrency market in the world. As a regulated, compliant crypto company in the U.S., we will focus on building that same level trust with new customers in Japan.”
