Japan’s Money Forward Announces Details of Upcoming Cryptocurrency Exchange

Japanese public company Money Forward, operator of a personal budgeting app with 7 million users, is preparing to launch a crypto exchange. Three cryptocurrencies will be supported. A representative of the company has shared some details with news.Bitcoin.com about the platform and the company’s future crypto projects.

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New Crypto Exchange

Money Forward Financial Co. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed Money Forward Inc. (TYO: 3994), has announced some details of its upcoming cryptocurrency exchange.

A representative of the company confirmed to news.Bitcoin.com that the exchange will initially support three cryptocurrencies: BTC, ETH and BCH. There will be live order books and trading charts but margin trading will not be offered at launch. In addition, the name of the exchange is not yet disclosed.

The new crypto exchange will be “linked to our personal financial management service called Money Forward Me,” the representative added. This flagship product has 7 million users, according to its website. The company describes this app as one that “automatically aggregates statements of bank accounts, credit cards, securities accounts, fx accounts, pensions/points and compiles a household accounting book.”

Established in May 2012, Money Forward Inc. has nine subsidiaries and seven offices across Japan. The Tokyo-headquartered company offers a wide range of products including an automatic savings app and a financial services portal for individuals as well as accounting, tax return, invoicing, payroll, and information management systems for businesses. Its shares have been listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange since September last year.

In terms of future cryptocurrency projects, the representative said, “In future years, we would like to cover money transfer and payment services.””

Registering With FSA

During a press conference on Monday, the president of Money Forward Financial, Junichi Kanda, talked about the challenges of registering a crypto exchange business with the Financial Services Agency (FSA).

In the beginning, registering with the FSA is a “relatively light” process, Kanda described. However, after the hack of Coincheck in January, the regulator has tightened its oversight and evaluation of crypto exchanges and no company has been granted registration since then.

Noting that his company has been in consultation with the FSA, Kanda said that he expects his exchange to be able to register and launch by the end of March next year. In addition, Money Forward Financial announced on Monday that Yokane Hidero, a former FSA inspector, has been appointed as head of the company’s internal control department.

The Money Forward representative confirmed to news.Bitcoin.com:

We would hopefully like to start the [exchange] business between January and March 2019, though it depends on the FSA’s [registration] procedure.

Japan’s revised Payment Services Act requires that all crypto exchange operators register with the FSA. Currently, 16 operators have been granted registration and three, including Coincheck, have been allowed to operate exchanges while their applications are being reviewed by the agency. The FSA previously revealed that more than 160 companies have expressed interest in registering to operate crypto exchanges.

What do you think of Money Forward launching a cryptocurrency exchange? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Itmedia, and Money Forward Inc.

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