Coinbase is Expanding into the Japanese Market

One of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the U.S., Coinbase, is in the process of expanding into the Japanese market.

“As a regulated, compliant crypto company in the U.S., we will focus on building that same level trust with new customers in Japan,” Coinbase wrote in a blog post.

Coinbase currently operates in 32 countries is now in active discussions with the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA). Once they have secured the license needed to expand to Japan a potential partner will be Mitsubishi UFJ Finacial Group Inc. They have already invested in Coinbase and have been actively supporting their expansion efforts for the last two years.

To lead the expansion, Coinbase has hired Nao Kitazawa to be the Japanese branch CEO. Prior to working at Coinbase, Kitazawa was an investment banker at JP Morgan. In regards to Kitazawa and the rest of the expansion team Coinbase stated that they are “building a world-class in-country team and ensuring that we deliver on our vision of creating an open financial system for the world.”

As Coinbase expands they will face competition. Yahoo Japan has announced they will be launching a cryptocurrency exchange in 2019. That said, in the U.S. Coinbase currently serves more than 20 million customers. With the Japanese market being one of the world largest markets this has the potential to add millions more customers.