Japan’s Largest Compliance Exchange Coincheck To List IOST on 8 Sep 2020
After 3 years of in-depth layout and market expansion in Japan, we are thrilled to announce that IOST has been approved by the Financial Services Agency (FSA), the Trading platforms supervision Alliance in Japan, and will be listed on the largest compliance exchange in Japan, Coincheck.
Coincheck, a major cryptocurrency exchange and subsidiary of the Japanese financial listed company Monex Group, announced on 1 September that it will officially list IOST on 8 September 2020. With this, IOST has become the 14th compliant token on Coincheck and the 29th compliant token in the Japanese market.
Listing on Coincheck is a direct result of the IOST’s unwavering efforts on our global compliance development progress and is a successful step in entering the Japanese market. Being approved by FSA and listed on CoinCheck will accelerate IOST’s market outreach in Japan, including future cooperation with more top tier trading platforms, leading listed companies, and government entities.
About Coincheck Exchange
The Coincheck Exchange belongs to the Monex Group, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It is a registered institution of the Kanto Regional Finance Bureau №014 of the Japanese Virtual Currency Exchange Association. Its recent monthly transaction volume has reached 26 million US dollars, and its compliance review for listings is stricter than in any other country in the world. Back on September 13, 2017, Coincheck announced that it had been approved as a licensed cryptocurrency exchange and that its registration and approval were compliant with Article 63–3 of the National Fund Clearing Algorithm.
Complicated & Challenging Process to List on Coincheck
Established in 2012, Coincheck obtained a virtual currency trading license from the Financial Services Agency of Japan in January 2019 and soon became Japan’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Coincheck is the most compliant trading platform with the most virtual currencies in Japan, with 2.8 million downloads in Japan. From both Bitcoin trading volume and registered/active users, Coincheck ranks first in Japan’s compliance trading platform index.
Currently, the Japanese virtual currency trading license application threshold is very challenging, and a long application process. Any new function or currency must apply for the license and security issues must be corrected upon orders from the regulatory agency.
For the projects, entering the Japanese market is subject to the compliance supervision of the Japanese trading platforms, the JVCEA, and the FSA. The currency listing review of general trading platforms requires 7 items and 20 major categories of materials to report. From the perspective of being responsible to users, CoinCheck’s listing process is even harder, an incomplete ecosystem, relatively low security, or bad liquidity are disqualifying factors.
Japan, the “cryptocurrency paradise” on the line
As early as 2017, Japan planned to increase its cashless settlement ratio to 40% within 10 years. Bitcoin, with its impact in the financial system, is therefore regarded as a strategic resource in Japan.
After the Japanese yen failed to challenge the international status of the US dollar in the 1980s, Japan immediately began to study the world monetary system and digital currencies and constantly seeks to shake the global monetary system which is dominated by the United States. Before the digital currencies became mainstream in the world, Japan has already shown a fanatical and radical posture and even led the global digital currency trend with the introduction of its various measures.
Today, Japan is the world’s second-largest digital asset trading market, with more than 6.2 million digital asset investors. Besides, affected by the spread of the global pandemic, Japan has launched an economic stimulus plan of 100 billion yen, accounting for nearly 20% of Japan’s GDP, which is much higher than the US version of the economic stimulus plan launched by the Trump administration. In this context, Japanese traders’ demand for digital asset trading has increased significantly, and the scale of the digital asset trading market will also further expand.
The Japanese market is strictly regulated with high barriers to entry
Japan was the first country where the government legalized digital asset transactions, and it was the first country to formulate regulatory provisions legally.
In March 2016, the Japanese Cabinet voted to consider Bitcoin and other digital currencies as digital equivalent currencies, becoming the first country to provide legal protection for cryptocurrency transactions. In April 2017, Japan implemented the “Payment Services Act” to incorporate digital currencies into the legal regulatory system, and officially recognized Bitcoin as a legal payment method. With this, Japan has been at the forefront of global digital asset compliance.
As the country with the most compliant trading platforms in the world, Japan is also a pioneer in creating digital asset regulatory systems. The Financial Services Agency of Japan is responsible for the supervision of the Japanese digital currency market and stipulates that digital currency trading platforms need to apply for licenses to operate in compliance. In recent years, the regulatory system has repeatedly upgraded and raised the threshold. The highly compliant and strictly regulated Japanese market is also highly recognized by global crypto investors.
IOST- Existing & Future Position in the Japanese Market
IOST has a deep layout in the Japanese market with a good user base
Since 2017, IOST established an office in Japan and has been constantly recruiting outstanding local members to deepen the Japanese blockchain market, comprehensively layout the ecosystem, and accelerate the development of IOST in the Japanese market.
Here’re some notable milestones of IOST in Japan
- In November 2018, IOST and Fujitsu established a partnership to jointly accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology on enterprise-grade;
- In November 2019, IOST teamed up with EverySystem and elDesign in Japan to launch an electricity trading project on the IOST blockchain. The mayor of Fujimi City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan witnessed how IOST empowers the Japanese power system, this was the first large-scale application of IOST in Japan
- In early 2020, IOST partners with Fujimi Town to deploy blockchain in the Japanese energy market
- In June 2020, the Japanese political party SANSEITO adopted IOST technology for digital voting and decision-making
- In June 2020, IOST inked an alliance with Japanese Medical Health Tech Venture “Pracs” to develop a secure, transparent, and tamper-proof on-chain medical record platform.
- In August 2020, IOST won the 1st Place in Popular Coin Voting organized by Huobi Japan against Tezos, Ontology, Enjin, NEO & Qtum
- IOST’s “Blockchain Free Education Program” has been launched in 7 universities and educational institutions in Japan and provided blockchain courses to over 300 students since 2018.
With the adoption of its technology in multiple industries in Japan, IOST has proved its huge potential and wide potential application areas.
With an early layout of IOST’s strategy in Japan, IOST has built a decent userbase and brand awareness in the Japanese digital asset trading market.
IOST officially enters the Japanese market, paving the way for future adoption
After conducting strict investigations and compliance analysis on numerous well-known public chain projects from around the world, Coincheck finally picks IOST as the only project for listing in the platform, which is a high affirmation of the ecosystem development of IOST and the global compliance development.
Listing on Coincheck is only the first step for IOST to officially enter the Japanese market. In the future, we will keep leveraging on the existing resources and user base to reach in-depth cooperation with more first-line trading platforms, well-known listed companies, and government agencies in Japan.
With the gradual improvement of the related laws and regulations of digital currency, in 2020, IOST will continue to promote the compliance process in South Korea, the United States, Singapore, Vietnam, and other countries, and continue to lead the global public chain ecosystems development.
