weekly
Welcome to the one hundred first edition of the Japan FinTech Observer, and welcome to Japan Fintech Week 2025! The Japanese equity market has been lagging so far this year. Topix and Nikkei were down by around 2% and 3% mid-week, respectively, while the Hang Seng Index led with a
digital assets
Web3 Investing hosted SBI Digital Markets Chief Operating Officer CK Ong to discuss the potential for 2025 to be a pivotal year for the cryptocurrency and tokenization space. We have listed the highlights of the conversation here, and encourage you to listen to the full recording. CK provides insights based
weekly
Welcome to the hundredth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. After Consensus in Hong Kong is before Japan FinTech Week, hence a brief reminder that we are hosting our own in-person, 100% offline meetup on Monday, March 3. Please register here. Given current demand, we will close registrations by February
web3
Blocksky has raised funds with SBI Investment as the lead investor. With this funding, Blocksky fully deploy its web3 advertising platform "W3AP" in Japan and the global market. W3AP delivers innovative approaches to address key challenges in the web3 advertising market, delivering new value for advertisers, web3 companies
crypto
Laser Digital, Nomura’s digital assets subsidiary, has launched the Laser Digital NEAR Adoption Fund. The Fund’s strategy seeks to provide a long-term exposure to the NEAR token enhanced with staking which allows institutional investors residing in eligible jurisdictions to participate in the blockchain consensus mechanism and take advantage
weekly
Welcome to the ninety-ninth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. This edition, and the magical 100th edition next week, bracket one of the world's largest crypto conferences held in a suburb of Shenzhen. While we still have to spot the Energizer Bunny Steve Vallas hopping around the island,
security token
Toyota Financial Services, Toyota Finance, Daiwa Securities, MUFG Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking, and Progmat plan to issue the Toyota Group's first publicly offered security token bonds. Toyota Financial Services and Toyota Finance have developed financial services to allow each and every customer to drive their car
weekly
Welcome to the ninety-eighth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. The past week saw the peak of earnings season for the financial sector, generally with very good to exceptional results for most players, including the FinTech segments of platforms like LY Corporation and Mercari; the only exception being cooperative Norinchukin
weekly
Welcome to the ninety-seventh edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Here you can view the future of Japan: Musashino University's Entrepreneurship Musashino Campus (EMC GLOBAL) held its academic year-end event and pitch contest, also including regional winners from the Philippines, Singapore, and India. The quality of the pitches
weekly
Welcome to the ninety-sixth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Here is what we are going to cover this week: * Venture Capital & Private Markets: JAL & Hitachi participate in BeZero Carbon's USD 32m Series C; Z Venture Capital & Decima Fund participate in Vivident's seed
payments
The Financial System Council's Working Group on Payment Services has published its key findings and recommendations today. The report addresses emerging issues in the Japanese FinTech landscape, focusing on payment and settlement services, crypto-assets, stablecoins, and other related topics. It proposes several regulatory adjustments to balance innovation with
NFT
NTT Digital has launched the “Hapiwell Ouendan (Happy & Wellness Cheering Team)” campaign in collaboration with 22 partner companies. Themed “Happy & Wellness,” this campaign is led by Sanrio’s popular unit “HAPIDANBUI” as the cheer captain, with participating companies joining as cheering team members to make the campaign more