Huobi’s Japanese branch has joined the Japan Security Token Offering Association, or JSTOA, as a “supporting member” along with Zaif, FXCoin, and 8 other local crypto players, according to the announcement published earlier today.
“A full member must be a securities firm holding a Finance 1 licence,” Huobi Japan CEO Haiteng Chen clarified in a comment to Cointelegraph. “We don't obtain this licence and thus cannot apply for a full membership.”
Huobi Japan aims to streamline “the transaction of security tokens” through this self-regulatory body.
The JSTOA was launched in October 2019 by six major Japanese brokerage firms including SBI Securities and Rakuten Securities. Its goal is to support the development of security token offerings in a way that ensures legal compliance and protects investors. In April 2020, the organization released guidelines on how to separate customer assets and electronic record transfer rights.
Huobi’s Chen told Cointelegraph:
“We eminently agree with [the association’s] ideology and here we quote the association motto ‘promote and popularize security token to revive the financial and capital market, to nurture advanced industry and to maintain the global competitiveness’”
In his comment, the cryptocurrency exchange CEO called Japan “one of a few world leading countries who have established a compliance system” for digital assets.
Japan is keeping up with crypto
Meanwhile, the Financial Services Agency, or FSA, has recently announced Ryozo Himino as its new leader. Himino is considered to be overall bullish on cryptocurrencies. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan recently tapped top economist, Kazushige Kamiyama, to lead a CBDC research team.