FTX’s recent Series C funding round is followed by targets such as the obtainment of licenses in key regions. As a part of the global expansion for the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, comes the purchase of Liquid Group with its subsidiaries. This will be crucial for Sam Bankman-Fried and the exchanges navigation into Japans stringent legislation.
As per the statement made this week, a transaction of undisclosed amounts will be conducted during the month of March 2022. Liquid and FTX are anticipated to collaborate in order to deliver goods and liquidity to individual and institutional investors in the Japanese and worldwide markets.
Quoine, a subsidiary of the Liquid Group, is itself a financial technology company and is headquartered in Japan with branches in Vietnam as well as Singapore. Founded in 2014, the core product of the company is the highly sophisticated cryptocurrency trading platform Liquid which is one of the largest exchanges in Asia, supporting fiat and dozens of cryptocurrencies. Their mission is to revolutionize banking and financial services as well as to bring the services to un or under-banked.
Based in Tokyo, Quoinne is one of the 29 regulated exchange service providers operating under the countries Payment Services Act. Crypto exchange service providers in Japan are required by law to register with the Financial Services Agency (FSA) and a matching municipal financial bureau.
The FSA authorized Quoine a Type 1 Financial Instruments Business registration last year. A Type 1 permits intermediaries, such as brokerages and exchanges, to provide securities and derivatives legally.
The acquisition has led to an agreement between FTX and Liquid to provide current Japanese users with compliant services to the Japanese law and in March will transfer them to Quoine.
According to Bloomberg, the self-regulatory body sanctioned by FSA – Virtual and Crypto Exchange Association in Japan is planning to ease its listing process by implementing a shorter timeframe for review. A final decision is yet to be made, however, members of the Association commented that currently, they observe the impeding of the industry’s which is also complementing a potential increase in monitoring.
Photo by Cosmin Serban
