Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred thirty-second edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. What a difference a year makes! After last year's LDP leadership election, which Ishiba won in a run-off against Takaichi, the TOPIX sold off -3.5% and the Japanese Yen strengthened from ¥146 to below ¥142
crypto
Gumi, a name long synonymous with Japan's vibrant mobile gaming industry, has signaled one of the most decisive strategic shifts in its history. The company last week announced a landmark capital raise of approximately ¥5.7 billion (roughly $38 million USD) through the issuance of stock acquisition rights.
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred thirty-first edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. We tried to have the publication of our weekly report co-incide with quarter-end (at least that is this week's excuse), and follow the first two trading days of the spun-out Sony Financial. After an indicative price
private equity
SBI Securities, Shinsei Trust & Banking, Tokio Marine Asset Management, and BOOSTRY have jointly developed Japan's first public offering scheme for security tokens of specified beneficial interest-issuing trusts that realize PE investment, and will collaborate on its public offering. Expansion of the PE Market In recent years, asset
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred thirtieth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Last week, the World Athletic Championships took place in Tokyo, putting the Olympic Stadium finally to the grand use it was designed for (including an audience!). Whether inspired by the athletic performances or not, the Bank of Japan
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred twenty-ninth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. The Bank of Japan will hold its Monetary Policy Meeting on September 18 & 19, following the FOMC in the US. The consensus expectation is for the Bank to keep its policy rate on hold this time; beyond
security token
SBI Digital Markets (SBIDM), Samara Alpha Asset Management (Samara Alpha), and Bracket Labs Group (Bracket) have forged a strategic alliance with the objective of reshaping the tokenized securities market. Through the collaboration, Samara Alpha will leverage Bracket’s technology platform to assist in actively unlocking access to yield strategies while
joint venture
Zodia Custody, the institutional digital asset custodian backed by Standard Chartered, and Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings have mutually agreed to terminate their much-anticipated joint venture, "SBI Zodia Custody," nearly two years after its inception. The venture, which aimed to provide bank-grade crypto-asset custody for institutions in Japan,
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred twenty-eighth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Prime Minister Ishiba announced his resignation right after he "gave away the store" to Trump, as Richard Katz observed. As the governmental budget season is under way, the Financial Services Agency has requested the highly anticipated
corporate venture capital
Pointsville, a pioneering platform for digital asset infrastructure and loyalty, has completed its Series A funding round led by Valor Capital Group, with participation from an exceptional group of global investors and industry leaders. Backers include Tether, Itaú Unibanco's founding family, Nubank's co-founder, Temasek-backed Superscrypt, SNZ,
cryptocurrency exchange
Coincheck Group, the holding company of Coincheck, one of Japan’s leading crypto asset exchanges, has entered into a stock purchase agreement to acquire Aplo, a digital asset prime brokerage for institutional crypto investors. Pursuant to the agreement, all issued and outstanding shares of Aplo are to be exchanged for
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred twenty-seventh edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Congratulations to the WebX & Coinpost teams for delivering an outstanding conference! Although SBI took the headlines with a full plate of announcements already on the Friday prior in Osaka, the news flow did not let up. More