Headlines from this Week: Crypto Rollercoaster, Slack in Japan, Startup Homicide
Originally published on 7/2/2018
Feature: Crypto Entrances and Exits
Things are heating up in the Japanese crypto scene as the Financial Services Agency cracks down on non-compliant crypto exchanges as we discussed last week. To rub salt into the wound, Huobi Pro, a Chinese-founded Singaporean crypto exchange, will cease Japanese operations as of July 2nd, citing their lack of proper licensing to operate in Japan.
But amidst the myriad compliance hoops and privacy issues surrounding Japanese crypto regulation, Line has decided to launch a new exchange, Bitbox, offering crypto-to-crypto trading (no fiat trading confirmed) in over 30 tokens. But there’s a catch: it will launch globally except for Japan and the US.
While there’s no official word on why Japan (Line’s home market) and the US are out of scope, we believe it may be to work on its product and service in a more crypto-friendly environment before being forced to slog through compliance work. We saw Bitfinex block all US-based users last year for similar reasons (a very small portion of their customers were in the US compared to the effort it would’ve taken the company to check all the compliance boxes). Keep your eyes peeled for more exchanges opting out of Japan and the US for more crypto-forward nations in the coming months.
Slack: Breaking the Communications Barrier
Last week, communication and collaboration tool Slack announced their official Japanese entrance. Positives for them: They already have 280,000 DAU (daily active users) and 155,000 paying users. Positives for anyone talking to Japanese users: Easier and faster communication with Japanese speakers.
Japanese email communication is mired with pleasantries and verbal fluff.You have to start with obligatory greetings and apologies for bothering them, and end with another obligatory wish for the request to be considered as well as another exit pleasantry; all of this is done in honorific form, a type of speech which places the recipient in a higher place than the writer. A simple email asking for potential time slots to schedule a meeting ends up blowing up to 9 sentences, 6 of which are cues of your politeness.
I feel a very different culture brewing when talking to Japanese customers in Slack. They don’t bother with these fluffy notes, and get straight to the point (except for the pleases and thank yous both ways). It’s quicker, more casual, and quite frankly, more friendly. I feel as though I’m part of a larger team that cares about the topics they bring up, rather than the cold and faceless, almost templated email I receive from others.
It seems as though Slack has provided a place where traditions can be broken.It’s not email, and the point is to write as you would speak, so why come up with a formal structure? Why not throw in some slang? Emojis? Go for it.
Perhaps I’m exaggerating, and just don’t see as much value in the current form of Japanese email, or maybe what I’m feeling is why Japan has become the 2nd largest market for Slack. We’ll have to see, but what we can say is that Slack will play a large part in changing the archaic work culture of Japan in the coming years.
Column: Disrupt or Die
While Japan is considerably safer than the US, it is not without its tragedies. THE ZERO / ONE Editor in Chief Kenichiro Okamoto was stabbed to death at Fukuoka Growth Next, “a public-private collaborative startup support facility situated in the heart of Fukuoka.” No known information on the suspect, except for speculation of interpersonal issues online with Okamoto.
