Japan is becoming more cryptocurrency-friendly than the US

Chairman and CEO of the Japanese brokerage company Monex Group, Oki Matsumoto, believes that Japan is becoming an increasingly cryptocurrency friendly country.

“Japan is a retail market, and the American market is owned by institutional investors. With cryptocurrencies, the same is true – Japanese institutional investors are not risk averse, but retail investors behave like cowboys, ”he said.

After a major hack of the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck, the country’s regulators have become much more strict about the industry. However, Matsumoto believes that their attitude is already beginning to change.

“The attitude of the authorities towards cryptocurrencies is starting to soften. Next year, cryptocurrency derivatives will begin to be regulated. In addition, authorities should more clearly express their position on the offer of token stocks. So 2020 will be more active not only for trade, but also in terms of the emergence of new products and services, ”said Matsumoto.

In his opinion, the long-term perspective is very positive for cryptocurrencies. He emphasized that, although Japan does not set records in terms of trading volumes, the country occupies a leading position in the field of regulatory support for the cryptocurrency industry, so a surge in trade should take place in the future.

The problem is that institutional investors in Japan stay away from cryptocurrencies. In Japan, there are no hedge funds or family-owned companies that invest in the industry. The thing is that fund managers get paid for not making mistakes. They do not receive bonuses for risks and large profits, therefore they are extremely negative about risky investments.

“We need to make the cryptocurrency market more diversified. US institutional investors play too much of a role in the market and are subject to decisions by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. In the end, Japan will be a more cryptocurrency friendly country than the United States. Japanese retail investors are more willing to take risks, ”said Matsumoto.

Recall that in January 2018, the Japanese Coincheck exchange was hacked, as a result of which NEM tokens worth more than $ 500 million were stolen from the site. After that, the Monex Group bought and revived the cryptocurrency exchange.