By
Bhushan Akolkar
April 19th, 2024
Tokyo-based bitFlyer, world’s largest Bitcoin exchange, has recently received an approval-nod from the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) to start its operations in U.S.
Japan is one such country that has always been open to the idea of cryptocurrencies from the very beginning and this year the government also granted a legal status to digital currency ‘Bitcoin’. The awareness regarding cryptocurrencies is the highest in Japan compared to other countries of the world. It is needless to say that Japan has matured as one of the most thriving platforms for cryptocurrency traders, investors and exchange operators.
Tokyo-based bitFlyer, the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange by trading volume is launching its operations now in U.S. Having recently received an approval-nod from the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS), bitFlyer has now been granted a license to operate in 41 states of the country. Under the agreement of the license, bitFlyer can operate as an exchange, secure online address for holding the digital currency as well as provide ‘custodial wallet’ services.
Maria T. Vullo, a DFS Supritendent said in a statement: “As New York’s financial services regulator, DFS’s mission is to encourage innovation while protecting markets and consumers. As the virtual currency market expands, New York will continue to support technological innovation while enforcing the strong state-based regulation.”
However, owing to the complex regulatory environment of U.S., it is a great achievement to penetrate the market that is largely dominated by three key players Bitstamp, Bitfinex and Coinbase’s GDAX.
bitFlyer’s U.S platform is said to be designed for professional traders trading around $100,000 or more in virtual currencies each month. Also, bitFlyer’s services will allow traders in order to place market trade orders or complex trade orders. bitFlyer USA’s chief operating officer, Bartek Ringwelski, in a statement, said: “Our expansion and upcoming cross-border trading addresses a huge unmet need in the U.S. by institutional traders looking to access large amounts of liquidity across multiple virtual currency markets. Through our web interface or API, approved professional traders can be up and running and making trades in a matter of hours.”
bitFlyer has said that it is planning for a 0% trading fees to be introduced by the end of this year. Moreover, in early 2018, the exchange is also planning to add support for other altcoins like Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin and other virtual digital currencies. The great thing is that bitFlyer’s new exchange will give U.S.-based traders access to Japan’s cryptocurrency market having a high concentration of Bitcoin trading.
Currently, bitFlyer’s U.S exchange is only supporting deposits and withdrawal through Bitcoins and USD wire transfer. This means that the exchange is currently targetting high net worth institutional investors. Later, the exchange also plans to add more forums for fund inflow and outflow just like the ACH transfer in order to make it easy for average investors to deposit and withdraw cash.
This year itself, bitFlyer is said to have traded about $100 billion in virtual digital currencies. The exchange also has huge investments from three major Japanese banks. Also, for bitFlyer, the process of getting its operations in the U.S markets started way back in August. After the Japanese government decided to start the process of regulatory approvals for exchanges, bitFlyer was undoubtedly one the 11 exchanges to receive a license for continuing operation in the country.