One of the most important financial companies in the world, Yahoo! Japan Has decided to buy a minority stake in the Tokyo cryptocurrency exchange BitARG. The transaction has been performed by Yahoo! Japan Corp and the intention is to enter the cryptocurrency world.
Yahoo! Japan Buys 40% of BitARG
We have reported in the past about the intention of Yahoo! Japan to purchase part of the BitARG Exchange Tokyo. Back in March, this information was not official, but now, a statement provided by Yahoo! Japan says that the acquisition will be processed through a subsidiary.
Yahoo! Japan is also the country’s biggest online auction site. This is an important step forward in the crypto environment worldwide. The services are going to be launched in the second half of the year, but more precisely, in Autumn.
There is no official information about how much Yahoo! Japan invested for this transaction, but according to people familiar with the matter, it would be between 2 to 3 billion yen (between $18 and $28 million dollars).
With this acquisition, Yahoo! Japan will be able to open its own crypto exchange and other similar products. At the moment, BitARG is a registered cryptocurrency exchange with the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA). The FSA was previously notified about the investment plan.
The FSA has taken a stricter control over some crypto exchanges since some irregularities affected Coincheck and Zaif crypto exchanges.
With this acquisition, Yahoo! Japan will also be working on a corporate governance structure, a customer management system, and internal controls.
Some days ago, the online brokerage firm, Monex Group, has informed that it was interested in buying the hacked crypto exchange Coincheck. The company was ready to pay $33.5 million dollars for the transaction. Once the information was released, Monex shares increased 20% in a short period of time.
Coincheck has been hacked in January, 2018, and 523 million NEM coins have been lost. At that time, the coins were valued at $500 million dollars. Currently, the exchange is trying to position itself as a trustworthy cryptocurrency exchange.
