Coincheck Entering US Market

Monex Inc., the firm that bought the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck, announced that it plans to expand the exchange’s operations to the US and Europe.

Future Plans for Coincheck

Monex’s Chief Executive Officer Oki Matsumoto stated that Coincheck was expected to receive its official license from the Japanese regulators next month. He said once that happens, they would look at expanding beyond Asia.

Coincheck’s recent past has been tumultuous. The exchange was hacked in January and about $532 million worth of cryptocurrencies were stolen from its wallet. Coincheck issued refunds to affected customers but was unable to turn itself around post the hack, which led to its acquisition by Monex. The acquisition was met with approval and sent Monex’s shares soaring by a huge 98%.

The good news is that despite the hack attack and the subsequent loss in terms of refunds to customers, Coincheck still ended the year in the green. Coincheck showed a net revenue of ¥6.3 billion (around $56.7 million) on sales of ¥62.6 billion (around $5.6 billion).

And now, once the exchange gets its official license from the Japanese government, Matsumoto feels the logical next step is to expand to markets beyond Japan.

Japan vs The West

Japan has been considered to be spearheading cryptocurrency adoption. It was the first country in the world to accept Bitcoin as a legal tender in 2016. However, according to Matsumoto, it is actually the US and Europe that are making bigger strides.

Matsumoto feels that in terms of deciding whether a crypto is a token or a security. He said that these two regions were also ahead in terms of attracting institutional investors. He compared the massive 55% tax that is levied on cryptos in Japan, to the recent initiative taken by the French government to charge only a capital gains tax of 19%.

He also stated that American Federal regulators were now the most influential when it came to deciding what the future status of cryptocurrencies would be in the world economy. He was referring to the current debate about whether cryptocurrencies should be treated like securities or commodities. He said that a final decision on that point would give a lot of clarity to the nascent crypto industry and would lead to growth as well as institutional investors’ confidence in this area.

Therefore, moving to the West is the step that would encourage growth and keep Coincheck as a crypto exchange relevant.