Cryptocurrency exchange Liquid announced on Thursday that its Japanese subsidiary, QUOINE Corporation, has acquired a Type I Financial Instruments Business license from the regulator in the country.
The new license, which the company obtained on Tuesday, will allow it to offer cryptocurrency derivatives products to Japanese clients. The exchange applied for this license last year.
Commenting on the new license, Liquid’s Chief Operating Officer, Seth Melamed said: “The Type 1 license issuance is the culmination of a great deal of preparation and collaboration by the entire Liquid team. It is also a validation that trading derivatives in crypto can be done in a compliant manner with full customer protections & transparency.”
Though the crypto exchange is already intending to launch crypto derivatives trading services in Japan, it did not provide any set timeline. The official announcement, however, detailed that the upcoming services will be for both retail and institutional market participants.
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A Reputed Crypto Exchange
Liquid’s parent firm stepped into the cryptocurrency space in 2014 to offer exchange services. It also became one of the first regulated Japanese crypto exchanges after license from the Japan Financial Services Agency as a Virtual Currency Exchange in 2017.
Over the years, the exchange has significantly expanded its services in the crypto space: launched fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-crypto exchanges, started offering Bitcoin CFDs with 100x leverage and began swapping services between fiat and crypto.
The exchange is also seeking a Payment Institution license from the regulator in Singapore to offer crypto services in the city-state.
Despite the reputational dominance, the exchange became the victim of a massive data breach last year that exposed the name, email and encrypted passwords of its users. However, that did not lead to any theft of cryptocurrencies.
