Newly-established and popular bitcoin/cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is slated to begin operating in Japan next month, according to founder Jesse Powell, who recently spoke to Bloomberg Businessweek.
The announcement comes months following the fiery collapse of Tokyo-based Mt. Gox — an exchange run by French-born Mark Karpeles. In that collapse, upwards of 500,000 bitcoins were lost under uncertain circumstances.
In May, Powell was said to have gone to the Land of the Rising Sun for discussions with local legislators in an attempt to plant his company’s feet in the country and open up the service to Japanese traders.
In his interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Powell said he was “surprised how open-minded Japanese politicians are,” adding that the United States was in the Dark Ages compared to Japan, legislatively speaking.
Interest in bitcoin in Japan continues to rise, and with limited trading options, Kraken is poised to attract scores of new traders in the country.
Specific dates with regard to the launch haven’t been released, however, so all we have to work with that this time is simply “next month” sometime.
Building upon the failures of exchanges that have come before it, Kraken continues to pave the way for professional cryptocurrency-trading solutions.
Today, the exchange accounts for about half of the daily Euro trading in the cryptocurrency realm.
[textmarker color=”C24000″]Source[/textmarker] Bloomberg Businessweek
