Penguin, a cryptocurrency firm located in Singapore, has announced that Daiwa Securities of Japan will be acquiring a 10% ownership share.
Daiwa referenced the increasing number of wealthy people and institutional investors pouring more money into the cryptocurrency market in a news statement they issued on Monday.
According to the Japanese financial services organization, Penguin Securities is now requesting regulatory clearance to trade cryptocurrencies and provide broker-dealing services pertaining to capital market goods. At the same time, another Penguin subsidiary plans to focus on offering cryptocurrency derivatives.
Daiwa will provide Penguin with its knowledge of high-net-worth firms and financial backing as part of the relationship. As a token of appreciation, Penguin will teach Daiwa about cryptocurrency and other emerging alternative assets.
While Daiwa remained tight-lipped about the partnership’s finances, rumors have it that it acquired a 10% interest in Penguin and spent over 1 billion yen ($6.65 million) in late February.
After launching cryptocurrency derivatives by the year’s end in 2024, Penguin intends to expand its offerings to include cryptocurrency exchange and brokerage services in the future.
“We hope to build a strong business relationship with Daiwa Securities Group through this alliance and speed up the growth of our business in Asia and around the world,” Kentaro Kawabe, CEO of Penguin Securities HD, said in a statement. “We also want to share our knowledge on crypto assets and digital assets and work together to create a next-generation financial ecosystem.”
In general, policymakers in Japan see cryptocurrencies as important parts of fintech progress and have welcomed them. Stablecoins and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are two blockchain components that have received clear instructions from the central bank and the Financial Services Agency for use by enterprises.
The Japanese cabinet accepted a proposal last month, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry. This allows domestic venture capitalists to invest in Web3 firms. Before this legislative shift, only foreign investors could participate in ventures that issued virtual currency; now, Japanese VCs may do the same.
Before, Daiwa dabbled in the cryptocurrency market. It made an investment in Pafin, the business behind cryptact, a platform for cryptocurrency accounting and profit computation, last year. Furthermore, Daiwa was a member of the blockchain-based digital bond issuance earlier this year.
The firm claims to have been engaged in initiatives to evaluate the commercialization of crypto and digital assets since 2016, when it first began to concentrate on these topics.
Fintertech Corp., a subsidiary of Daiwa established in 2018, began lending cryptocurrency in 2020, the first of its kind in Japan.
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