Japan's Securitize became the first global token issuance platform to join the Japan Security Token Offering Association (JSTOA), the company announced last week.
The JSTOA self-regulation team
The Japanese branch Securitize based in the United States has not been able to join the association before because JSTOA only accepted Japanese regulated entities in its ranks.
Securitize co-founder and CEO Carlos Domingo said that one of Japan's leading financial services companies, SBI Holdings, was one of the founding members of JSTOA and is a shareholder of Securitize.
Last year, six major Japanese brokers created JSTOA as a self-regulatory organization in an attempt to consolidate securities skills and develop business opportunities with security tokens in Japan. It is a recognized financial institution, as well as an exchange association, which operates as a self-regulated entity.
"Japan has been a very forward-looking country in terms of blockchain and crypto"
Headquartered in San Francisco, Securitize expanded its operations in Japan last year after the Japanese company VC Global Brain invested in the platform and has since founded a subsidiary company.
Domingo, who has lived in Japan for many years and speaks the language, said there were several reasons why Securitize wanted to establish trade ties with the country. "Japan has been a very forward-looking country in terms of blockchain and crypto," said Domingo.
According to Domingo, Japanese investors are very active in the blockchain space and Japan has complete laws on cryptocurrency regulation, although it has had difficulty making a clear distinction between digital resources and cryptocurrency - the latest here quotations.
Large financial services institutions are also inclined to take advantage of the adoption of blockchain technology and digitization for securities, added Domingo. "So by putting all these things together, we saw that this was certainly an opportunity and, moreover, none of our competitors had a presence in Japan," said Domingo.
In his view, cracking the Japanese market is not an easy task for foreign entities. "Japan can be intimidating to do business," he said, adding that the lack of platforms with US or European stocks operating in the country has given them a competitive advantage.
JSTOA President and SBI Holdings CEO Yoshitaka Kitao said in a media note that Securitize brings years of experience and proven success on the market in the development and implementation of security token technology. "We are very proud to have included them in the JSTOA and look forward to working alongside them," added Kitao.
