Yahoo Japan Buys Stake in Cryptocurrency Exchange

Yahoo Japan confirmed Friday that it has purchased a minority stake in a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange.

Z Corporation, a subsidiary wholly owned by Yahoo Japan, acquired a 40 percent stake in BitArg Exchange Tokyo, valued at 2-3 billion yen (about $18.6 -$27 million), according to Reuters. The exchange is set to launch in the autumn of 2018, Yahoo Japan said in a statement.

"By utilizing the service operation and security expertise of the Yahoo group, we support the operation of exchanges operated by BitArgo Exchange Tokyo," Yahoo Japan said, adding that it will aim to provide services that are "easy to use and safe."

Rumors of the acquisition first emerged in March, though at the time they indicated that Yahoo Japan would make the investment through its forex transaction platform, YJFX, not Z Corporation, as previously reported.

Japan is an industry hub with more than three million domestic crypto traders, and the news of Yahoo Japan's investment comes just days after the country's financial regulator ordered crypto exchanges Eternal Link and FSHO to cease operations due to insufficient KYC procedures.

Likewise, in another notable acquisition this month, Monex Group announced that it struck a deal to acquire troubled exchange Coincheck, which suffered a major hack earlier this year.

Editor's note: Some statements in this article were translated from Japanese.

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