OKCoinJapan COO Daisuke Yakaku talks about the current state of crypto assets

In the third installment of this series, we will provide an overview of the cryptocurrency exchange OKCoinJapan in the cryptocurrency market, which is gaining momentum centered around Bitcoin (BTC).

Global Overview

Recently, BTC has reached a new all-time high due to the approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in January this year and expectations for the BTC halving scheduled for mid-April.

In addition, the approval of an Ethereum (ETH) spot ETF in the U.S. is also attracting attention, with the final deadline for the SEC's ETF approval review reaching May 23rd.

If an Ethereum spot ETF is approved following BTC, BTC and ETH, which account for approximately 70% of the total market capitalization of crypto assets, will be positioned as assets equivalent to traditional financial products.

The handling of ETFs in Japan will be discussed at a later date, but if these global trends spread domestically and the door is opened to institutional investors, it is expected that capital inflows into the crypto asset market will become more active.

Overview of the Japanese cryptocurrency market

Cryptocurrency investment is spreading in Japan, and the number of user accounts announced by the Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) was 9.17 million as of the end of January.

Currently, there are 29 cryptocurrency exchange companies, including ours, and each company is forming its own strategy and contributing to the expansion of the market size. Due to the recent revitalization of the market, the number of user accounts in Japan has rapidly increased, increasing 41.92% compared to January last year.