Coinspeaker
Yahoo! Japan and CMD Lab-Backed Crypto Exchange TaoTao Launches This Week

Yahoo! Japan owns a major stake in a new crypto exchange platform that will launch after a year in development. The crypto platform, dubbed Taotao, announced on Sunday that it will launch trading services on May 30, at midday local time. However, the company postponed the midday launch time without providing any reason for that.

The exchange will offer Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) as base currencies. Moreover, the platform will additionally offer margin trading in Litecoin (LTC), XRP, and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Yahoo! Japan owns 40% stake in TaoTao via its subsidiary Z Corporation while CMD Lab Inc. owns the rest 60%.

This development represents Yahoo!’s first crypto-related project. It is also one of the first major cryptocurrency exchanges launched by a large Web services company. Yahoo! has a greater customer base in Japan than both PayPal and Google unlike the case in most western countries.

Earlier, the TaoTao exchange was known as Bit Argo Exchange Tokyo (BitARG). Nikkei had reported in March 2018 that some employees of Yahoo! Japan would shift to work on BitARG.

All eyes now shift to TaoTao with analysts and investors eager to see how it manoeuvres and survives in the volatile market. As we reported last March, Yahoo! Japan had already expanded into the crypto industry. During that time, it became clear that,

“The purchase of BitARG shares will be made through Tokyo’s YJFX, a wholly owned Yahoo subsidiary that operates foreign exchange transaction services.”

TaoTao Exchange

The exchange will also offer a mobile app together with its online platform as published on the Taotao website. At launch, the exchange confirmed that it will offer trades in ether (ETH) and bitcoin (BTC). The firm will also make leverages available for interested traders with three other tokens added to the available options.

Under the Financial Services Agency (FSA), TaoTao is regulated as a cryptocurrency exchange business. Its website proudly displays the registration number 00001. The early registration comes through the platform’s previous FSA-licensed iteration, the BitARG exchange. Yahoo Japan acquired the stake in the exchange with the aim of developing a new platform using BitARG’s technology.

TaoTao’s site confirms that Yahoo Japan does hold 40% of the entity through its subsidiary Z Corporation. Also, the site provides users with “easy registration/sign in” via Yahoo accounts.

Japan’s Crypto Regulations

After several hacks taking place in the past few years, Japan has created strict cryptocurrency regulatory policies. Exchange giant Huobi had to suspend all its services to the Japanese market for some time last July because of the regulations imposed by Japan’s watchdog. Similar policies and regulations also affected HitBTC, a Hong Kong-based crypto exchange.

In December last year, Japan’s National Police Agency (NPA) officials announced that they had received over 6,000 cases related to crypto crimes and fraud. Nonetheless, Yahoo! Japan succeeded in buying the exchange via its retail foreign exchange subsidiary YJFX back in 2018. At that time, the exchange went by the name BitARG.

Japan’s FSA stated that it will review exchanges’ Anti-Money Laundering (AML) activities. The move comes ahead of an international inspection by the Financial Action Task Force. The new TaoTao exchange is fully licensed by Japan’s financial regulatory body, the Financial Services Agency. Customers started registering for the TaoTao crypto exchange from May 25^th onward.

Yahoo! Japan and CMD Lab-Backed Crypto Exchange TaoTao Launches This Week