The Japanese public company Money Forward, the operator of a personal budgeting application with 7 million users, is preparing the launch of a cryptocurrency exchange platform. Three cryptocurrencies will be supported. A representative of the company has shared some details on this matter, on the platform and future projects related to cryptocurrencies of the company.
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New Cryptocurrency Exchange Platform
Money Forward Financial Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Money Forward Inc. which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. (TYO: 3994), has announced some details of its upcoming cryptocurrency exchange platform.
A representative of the company confirmed the news that the stock will initially support three cryptocurrencies: BTC, ETH, and BCH. There will be live order books and charts of operations, but margin operations will not be offered at launch. In addition, the name of the platform has not yet been revealed.
The new cryptocurrency exchange platform will be “linked to our personal financial management service called Money Forward Me,” added the representative. This flagship product has 7 million users, according to its website. The company describes this application as one that “automatically adds bank statements, credit cards, securities accounts, exchange accounts, pensions/points and compiles a household ledger.”
The Money Forward application.
Founded in May 2012, Money Forward Inc. has nine subsidiaries and seven offices throughout Japan. The company based in Tokyo offers a wide range of products that include an automatic savings application and a financial services portal for individuals, as well as accounting systems, tax returns, billing, payroll and information management for companies.
Its shares are listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange since September of last year. Regarding future projects related to cryptocurrencies, the representative said: “In the coming years, we would like to cover money transfer and payment services.”
Register With The FSA
During a press conference on Monday, Money Forward Financial President Junichi Kanda spoke about the challenges of registering a cryptocurrency exchange business with the Financial Services Agency (FSA). At first, registering with the FSA is a “relatively light” process, Kanda described.
However, after Coincheck’s hacking in January, the regulator has reinforced its monitoring and evaluation of cryptographic exchanges and has not been granted registration to any company since then. Noting that his company has been in consultation with the FSA, Kanda said he hopes his exchange platform can be registered and launched by the end of March next year.
In addition, Money Forward Financial announced Monday that Yamane Hidero, a former FSA inspector, has been named the head of the company’s internal control department.
The Money Forward representative confirmed the news starting “We hope to start the [exchange] business between January and March 2019, although it depends on the [registration] procedure of the FSA”.
The revised Japan Payment Services Act requires all cryptocurrency exchange platform operators to register with the FSA. Currently, registration has been granted to 16 operators, and three have been allowed, including Coincheck, to carry out exchanges while the agency reviews their requests. The FSA previously revealed that more than 160 companies had expressed interest in registering to operate cryptocurrency exchanges.
