Japan is an active country that introduces cryptocurrency regulation and legislation. Hacker attacks on large cryptocurrency exchanges such as Mt. Gox and CoinCheck have changed Japan in the past.
When a massive hacker incident occurred on Mt. Gox, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange in 2014, Japanese media reported the incident day by day. There is a Japanese who saw the future in Bitcoin, which at that time was hidden by a “hack”. This is the chief operating officer of Bitbank, Hiroyuki Mihara.
Hiroyuki, COO, worked as a software engineer at Rakuten after graduating from the prestigious Waseda University. He joined the 2014 Bitbank cryptocurrency exchange as a co-founder member.
BlockInpress met with Hiroyuki COO to interview various stories about the cryptocurrency ecosystem in Japan, trends and regulatory status. Journalists concentrate on the issue of the popularity of XRP inside the country.
Why Is XRP So Popular In Japan?
One of BlockInpress’s questions is about the popularity of XRP in the country. Hiroyuki noted that Ripple has a good reputation in Japan and most Japanese recognize it as a reliable currency.
“Ripple has the right relationships among a lot of companies, including Japan’s SBI Holdings. Of course, we have good relationships not only among Japanese companies but also among the whole world. That’s why Japanese people see it as a reliable cryptocurrency,” he says.
However, XRP token is popular in this country for the same reasons as Bitcoin. Almost all local crypto exchanges support XRP, and most of them trading only in pair with Japanese Yen. But there are exceptions when XRP is converted into Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) or Japanese Yen (JPY). Curiously, many local crypto exchanges trade exclusively XRP, not paying attention to other virtual coins.
Bitbank’s Activity In Japan
The Japanese invest in cryptocurrencies. Of course, there are many cryptocurrencies in Tokyo. But at the same time, in Japan, it is relatively difficult to read and write in English. Most cryptocurrency articles are in foreign language. It’s quite difficult for the Japanese to follow the foreign media.
Despite this fact, BitBank got the highest A rating from Talk Insight. The crypto exchange is known for having many talented engineers in Japan. Representatives such as Jonathan Underwood, a renowned technology engineer who works for the Japanese Education Service. There are also other many competent engineers, including Jonathan, whose users trust security more.
Bitbank is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan. Most of its users are Japanese. Since they do not advertise or sell in countries other than Japan, the platform is little known abroad.
Due to the high volume of Ripple (XRP) trading in Japan, Bitbank is also the largest exchange after the Binance cryptocurrency exchange.
As a result, Bitcoin’s share in the cryptocurrency market is growing so much that its volume of trade (the main element is Ripple) is relatively small.
To date, BitBank supports only six cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin and Monacoin.
This year’s goal of Bitbank exchange is to become a leading cryptocurrency trading company.
“In the long term, I want to become a company that can properly provide blockchain services, such as the Lightning Network in Japan,” concluded Hiroyuki Mihara.
