It claims to be Japan’s second “unicorn” in the tech sector: the Bitcoin exchange Liquid.com. To get the metaphorical status of a “unicorn”, a company has to fulfill two conditions: First, it must be a start-up; second, there must be a valuation of one billion dollars. Liquid.com meets these requirements, at least according to the press release released by the start-up on April 3. In it, the crypto-to-fiat platform announced the successful completion of a first round of financing in a Series C funding. The value of Liquid.com is now estimated at $ 1 billion.
Main investor here is the investment company IDG Capital
IDG had previously invested in crypto projects including Ripple and Coinbase. Bitcoin mining leader Bitmain is also part of IDG Capital’s crypto portfolio. Meanwhile, Bitmain Technologies is one of the main investors in Liquid.com.
Japan is one of the leading nations when it comes to putting the crypto industry under proper regulation, and the Liquid Group has proven to be a model actor within such compliant rules. […]
Japan: Bitcoin exchanges regulate themselves
In fact, in the fall of 2018, Japan’s financial regulator provided more clarity on regulation – especially on Bitcoin exchanges. If you would like to register for a crypto exchange, you first have to submit a 400-question catalog. Upon receipt of the license, the Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) – an association of all Japanese Bitcoin exchanges – monitors compliance with the requirements of the Financial Regulator. In other words, the Japanese Bitcoin exchanges regulate themselves as far as possible. In addition, Japanese FinTech start-ups – unlike in this country – have the opportunity to first try out in the regulatory sandbox.
Ambitious roadmap
Liquid.com offers fiat-to-crypto-trading. The fresh investor funds should serve to expand the platform with numerous features. The plan also includes the development of a separate distributed ledger (LDL) and a rebranding of the company’s own QASH as a “liquid token”. However, the development of LDL, on which FinTech companies and financial service providers are to build their products, is still in the pre-alpha phase. However, the successful round of investment paves the way for Einhorn to accelerate the implementation of the roadmap.
Also published on Medium.