Popular crypto exchange Huobi has announced that its Japanese arm has raised about 5 million yen ($4.6 million).
The fund was gotten by issuing shares to financial service operator in Japan, Financial Products Group (FPG). This is according to official reports by Huobi Japan.
Headquartered in Singapore, broadening its scope of influence has been one of Huobi’s major focus. The funds will help expand Huobi’s Japan arm.
The company has opened several offices since May last year. First it started in Canada, then moved on to the US and Brazil. It also opened offices in several regions of the Middle East, Southeast Asia, North Africa etc. Though making a lot of progress, Huobi’s expansion wheel did not stop there. Just this October, the company announced a move into Turkey as well.
Japan – A major interest for Huobi
Huobi is working to ensure it achieves worldwide usage. Irrespective of this, Japan still holds a special appeal for the exchange. First, it acquired Japanese company BitTrade in September 2018. Since then the exchange has been trying to “aggressively scale up the platform.” Huobi Japan received a license from Japan’s national financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) in January 2019. The company is one of 16 crypto exchanges to receive an FSA license in all of Japan. Currently to operate a crypto exchange in Japan, you need a license. Japan enacted this rule in April 2017. FSA regulations then became quite stringent following the $532 million hack of Coincheck in 2018. Coincheck however also received an FSA licence in January.
With this influx of cash, Huobi Japan stated that its main strategy will be to “contribute to the digitalization of the Japanese securities market by integrating the company’s professional financial business know-how with our security-focused blockchain technology to provide new financial assets and payment methods.”
According to the official documents, FPG and Huobi Japan will work together to provide backing for modern financial assets and payment methods.
FPG also added that it looks forward to working with Huobi Japan to stimulate the digitization of Japan’s securities market. Integrating its mastery of financial instruments with Huobi’s blockchain technology.
Founded in China in 2013, the Huobi group currently has users in about 130 countries.