Deutsche Bank's Matsuda Joins Japan Startup as Crypto Strategist
Deutsche Bank's Matsuda Joins Japan Startup as Crypto Strategist
(Bloomberg) -- A Japanese cryptocurrency startup founded by a Deutsche Bank AG veteran has hired another alumnus of the German lender to provide research on digital tokens.
FXcoin Ltd., which is seeking regulatory approval to exchange virtual currencies including Bitcoin, recruited Yasuo Matsuda as a senior strategist. Matsuda, 49, who was a foreign-exchange dealer at Deutsche Bank from 2012 until June, will provide daily reports on market moves from this month, said the startup’s founder and Chief Executive Officer Tomoo Onishi.
Onishi’s firm is one of several to tap traditional brokerage industry talent to go crypto. After quitting his job as head of currency sales at Deutsche Bank last December, he hired about 15 professionals from banks including his former employer as well as Nomura Holdings Inc., Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and HSBC Holdings Plc.
Japan’s Financial Services Agency is considering applications from firms including FXcoin to operate as cryptocurrency exchanges under a licensing system introduced last year. That process is taking place against the backdrop of the loss of about $500 million in assets held by another applicant, Coincheck Inc., in a January hack.
“We are trying to do all we can while we’re waiting for registration,” Onishi said in an interview, declining to comment on the status of the application. FXcoin will hire another five people from financial institutions after receiving approval, he said.
Onishi will also issue his own charts and technical analysis on cryptocurrencies each month, and he has commissioned content from another ex-colleague, independent researcher Taisuke Tanaka. Tanaka, a former chief foreign-exchange strategist and head of Japan fixed-income research at Deutsche Bank, will provide FXcoin with articles on digital tokens twice a month.
The startup is aiming to meet demand for reliable information on digital currencies, Onishi said. “Investors won’t be able to take action unless they know what happened in the market when they were asleep,” he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Takahiko Hyuga in Tokyo at thyuga@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Marcus Wright at mwright115@bloomberg.net, Russell Ward, Katrina Nicholas
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