Japan’s Yahoo-backed crypto exchange announces launch date

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First announced just about two months ago, Yahoo! Japan has been working on a new cryptocurrency exchange for the country. The platform is apparently ready to be launched, according to an update, and will offer trading in Bitcoin Core (BTC) and Ether (ETH) as the base currencies, as well as additional trading in Ripple (XRP), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCHABC). Other coins could be added after the platform is up and running.

The new exchange is going to be called TaoTao and will go live on May 30. The announcement was made via the company’s official Twitter account a couple of days ago, which reads (translated from Japanese), “We’ve kept you waiting. The virtual currency exchange “TAOTAO” service will start at noon (tentative) on May 30 2019 [Central Japan Time].”

While some in the Western world may be surprised at Yahoo! launching a crypto service, it makes perfect sense in Japan. Yahoo! Japan has a larger customer base than either PayPal or Google, making it a smart move on the part of the company.

Japan is one of the most strictly regulation crypto nations. It has developed and implemented more policies than virtually any other nation and continues to innovate in order to allow the Bitcoin ecosystem to flourish and thrive. Part of the reason for the rapid pace of regulatory maturity has been because of several high-profile exchange hacks that led to embarrassment, but the result is the same. Japan has taken the lead in crypto as a legitimate endeavor.

TaoTao is now accepting registrations, which can be accomplished using the user’s Yahoo! login credentials. It opened its doors to customers on May 25 in order to allow them to register ahead of the launch of trading. The platform is completely registered with, and licensed through, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) and has the registration number 00001.

Yahoo! Japan maintains a 40% stake in the exchange, through its Z Corporation subsidiary, while the remainder belongs to CMD Lab Inc. Yahoo! purchased its stake only this past March in an effort to develop a new exchange platform using the BitARG blockchain technology.