On Friday, Japan-based cryptocurrency exchange BitFlyer announced the completion of its acquisition of 100% of the outstanding shares of FTX Japan, making FTX Japan a wholly-owned subsidiary.
The acquisition, finalized on July 26, 2024, comes after FTX Trading and related entities, including the Japan subsidiary, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States on November 11, 2022.
Plans To Transform FTX Japan Into A Crypto Custody Giant
As announced, following approval of the sale order by the US Bankruptcy Court on July 16, BitFlyer has successfully integrated FTX Japan into its operations, with significant changes on the horizon to capitalize on the acquisition.
As part of the transition, FTX Japan will change its name by August 26, 2024, with the tentative new name being the “new custody company.”
The rebranding is a strategic move, the company said, to align the acquired business with BitFlyer’s core focus on providing “advanced” crypto custody services to institutional investors. The exchange further stated:
The background to the basic policy of the crypto custody business is the growing need for institutional investors to enter the crypto asset market and the need for specialized security measures.
By developing a focused crypto custody business under the BitFlyer Group umbrella, the company aims to meet the growing demand from institutional investors seeking compliant access to the digital asset ecosystem in the Asian country.
BitFlyer Bets On Crypto Spot ETFs
Friday’s announcement revealed that the new custodian is exploring the possibility of offering services related to crypto asset spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the future, subject to establishing the necessary legal and regulatory framework in Japan.
This is in line with recent regulatory developments in the United States, where the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the listing of several spot Bitcoin ETFs in January, and most recently, the new spot Ethereum ETFs approved on Monday. BitFlyer also said on the matter:
We believe that by providing crypto custody services and crypto asset spot ETF related services through the new custody company, we will be able to provide value that is unique to the bitFlyer Group.
BitFlyer’s CEO, Yuzo Kano, stated in a recent social media post that the inflow of funds from institutional investors has increased in recent months due to the regulated Bitcoin ETF market, and he also believes that crypto-related ETFs will one day be listed in Japan.
“Through our custody business, we aim to become a public service that serves as an industry infrastructure,” Kano stated.
At the time of writing, FTX’s native token, FTT, is trading at $1.41, up over 6% in the wake of BitFlyer’s new acquisition on Friday. The token has also seen an 18% increase in trading volume since Thursday, reaching $13 million, according to CoinGecko data.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com