Japanese bitcoin exchange chief claims his company is at the heart of bitcoin
GETTY Yuzo Kano, chief executive of bitFlyer believes his company to be at the heart of bitcoin
I think Japan is leading the market higher. Yuzo Kano, chief executive of bitFlyer
Yuzo Kano, chief executive of bitFlyer a Japanese trading platform for bitcoin said his Tokyo-based exchange was big enough to handle even the biggest market movements. It boasts a 80 per cent share of bitcoin trading in Japan and 20-30 per cent of the global market. Friday afternoon saw bitcoin in Japan standing at $16,000. Mr Kano told the Financial Times: “I think Japan is leading the market higher.”
BitFlyer has now won authority to open in the US and currently ranks third for trading in the underlying digital currency. Activity seems to be due to large inflows of yen which is being combined with the small amount of bitcoin available, which results in the price for the cryptocurrency rising. Mr Kano said the amount of trading on the exchange was “roughly 50-50” between new and old investors and “the scale of deposits is steadily increasing. It’s pretty large.” The majority of people participating in the exchange seem to be private individuals.
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The supply of bitcoin is coming from Chinese bitcoin miners. Mr Kano said: “People who’ve owned them for a long time and have made a fortune. They have ¥10bn and they’re selling a little.” As trading on bitFlyer is split between 25 per cent in actual bitcoin and 75 per cent in derivatives it is the customers who take the risks not bitFlyer. A derivative is a security with a price that is derived from one or numerous assets. Assets can include stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies, interest rates and market indexes. BitFlyer forces a customer to sell if bitcoin drops more than 3 per cent. Sunday saw Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) launched bitcoin derivatives as well as Coinable, a bitcoin trading app becoming the most downloaded free app on Apple’s app Store over the weekend.