venture capital
Virtual asset firm Hyperithm has made a seed investment in Cork Protocol, a platform specializing in on-chain risk management. The investment is part of a larger $5.5 million (approximately 7.7 billion KRW) seed funding round co-led by crypto accelerator a16z CSX and Road Capital. The round also attracted
crypto
Standard Chartered has entered a strategic partnership with digital asset market maker B2C2, a move designed to bridge the gap between traditional banking infrastructure and the cryptocurrency markets for institutional clients. The collaboration aims to integrate Standard Chartered’s extensive global banking and settlement "rails" with B2C2’s
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred fiftieth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. The Japanese election completely overshadowed our monumental achievement of the 150th edition of the Japan FinTech Observer, while crossing 15,000 subscriber (on LinkedIn alone, ~20,000 across platforms) 😀 we remain humble, and truly appreciate your spending time
broker/dealer
SMBC Nikko Securities has established a "DeFi Technology Department" to capitalize on Japan’s evolving digital asset landscape. The new division is tasked with spearheading the brokerage’s expansion into decentralized finance (DeFi) and crypto asset services, anticipating major legislative overhauls expected later this year. The creation of
cryptocurrency exchange
The calendar year 2025 represented a definitive inflection point in the corporate history of Coincheck Group N.V. (Nasdaq: CNCK). Transitioning from a privately held subsidiary of the Japanese financial conglomerate Monex Group to a standalone entity listed on the Nasdaq Global Market, Coincheck navigated a year defined by extreme
stablecoin
Startale, the Web3 fintech company and core developer behind the Soneium blockchain, has launched the Startale USD (USDSC), a new digital dollar designed to anchor the ecosystem’s financial infrastructure. The issuance leverages the stablecoin-as-a-service platform M0 to manage backend liquidity and compliance. The move signals a strategic shift for
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred forty-first edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Last week, we were delighted to participate in the "ICT & FinTech Mission to Tallinn" this past week, courtesy of EIS | Enterprise Estonia. As we are settling down back home, we are iteratively reporting on the
cryptocurrency exchange
Binance Japan and PayPay have launched a PayPay Money integration service for Binance Japan's spot cryptocurrency trading (Simple Buy mobile and web versions). This service allows users to purchase cryptocurrencies through PayPay Money deposits and charge PayPay balance with PayPay Money from cryptocurrency sales proceeds. This integration service
digital asset treasury
Metaplanet's top-line financial metrics for the first nine months of FY2025 provide a clear, quantitative summary of the company's extraordinary year-over-year growth. These results reflect the successful and aggressive execution of Metaplanet's strategic pivot towards becoming a premier Bitcoin treasury company, marking a fundamental
crypto
The Financial Services Agency (FSA) hosted the 5th Meeting of the Financial System Council Working Group on Crypto-Assets on November 7, 2025. The meeting focused on consolidating previous discussions and presenting specific proposals for regulatory reforms concerning crypto assets in Japan, particularly addressing the shift of crypto assets towards investment
banking
SBI Holdings reported financial results for the first half of Fiscal Year 2025 (April 1, 2025 – September 30, 2025) at the end of October. Given the usual comprehensive reporting (150+ pages), the following article aims to extract the key updates. I. Consolidated Performance Overview SBI Holdings reported record-breaking performance for
stablecoin
TIS, part of the TIS INTEC Group, and Ava Labs have launched the "Multi-Token Platform", which supports the issuance and management of next-generation digital financial services including stablecoins and security tokens. The "Multi-Token Platform" is a service that provides platform functionality necessary for tokenizing various financial