Japanese financial services conglomerate SBI Group has announced a partnership with Huobi to engage with cryptocurrency.
In an announcement today, SBI said it would be launching a virtual currency exchange early next year.
Huobi is set to benefit from increased exposure to Japanese markets in light of China’s exchange shutdown, as reported by Nikkei Asian Review.
“...The company’s trading system and operations know-how, which has a four-year management record, will be leveraged,” the announcement reads. “While virtual currency transactions are rapidly expanding, we will use our highly secure system as weapons to bring in customers.”
Japan has been rapidly transforming itself into a cryptocurrency haven in recent months, and local Blockchain entities have spoken of being inundated by requests from nomad Chinese businesses which no longer have a domestic market.
This week, the country indicated it would follow US regulators in allowing Bitcoin futures trading, something it would do “as soon as possible” once relevant changes were made to securities laws.
Huobi is meanwhile aiming to open exchanges in Hong Kong, Singapore and Korea, despite the latter adopting an increasingly hostile attitude to cryptocurrency trading.