Yahoo! Japan Corporation confirmed approaching the crypto space by acquiring a stake in a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange that got license from the country’s financial regulator. The launch of an “easy-to-use exchange” for cryptocurrencies will be set in the fall of this year.

40 percent stake of a licensed cryptocurrency exchange

Back in March, 2018, BitARG denied reports of Yahoo! Japan’s investment in the company, stating that many possibilities were being explored. But now, this investment of a 40 percent stake in a crypto exchange called Bitarg Exchange Tokyo Co. Ltd has been done through a Yahoo! Japan’s wholly owned subsidiary Z Corporation. CMD Lab, the parent company of BitARG continues to own the remaining 60%. Although Yahoo! Japan did not elaborate the investment value, an expert said the deal is probably to “total 2 billion to 3 billion yen (US$18.6 million to US$27.9 million),” according to Reuters.

“We decided to expand the virtual currency business by collaborating with Z Corporation,” said Yoon Hee Yuan, CMD Lab Representative Director.

Yahoo! Japan is also the country’s biggest online auction site. This is an important step toward in the crypto environment worldwide. Bitarg was established in May, 2017. At the moment, BitARG is a registered cryptocurrency exchange with the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) to trade bitcoin (BTC) in December, 2017.

The FSA was previously notified about the investment and the FSA has been taking a stricter control all cryptocurrency exchanges in the country since the hack of Coincheck and some irregularities affected Zaif crypto exchanges.

In a recent interview with Nikkei Sankei, Yahoo! Japan Vice President Kentaro Kawabe explained: “The FSA is stating that their review will be tightened for new registrations of virtual currency exchanges, and it will be difficult to enter the space without the acquisition of existing exchanges”.

With this acquisition, Yahoo! Japan will also be working on a corporate governance structure, customer management system and internal controls.