SBI Virtual Currencies, a subsidiary of SBI Holdings Inc., a major Japanese financial services group, has announced that VCTRADE, its in-house cryptocurrency exchange, is now live after several months of delays.
The company registered the exchange last September, and has been preparing to launch the business “for some time”, according to the press release. The delay in the launch follows the efforts of Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) to increase oversight of domestic cryptocurrencies amid the Coincheck hack.
VCTRADE will currently be limited to the 20 thousand users that pre-registered with the platform in October 2017 - access to the general public will become available in July 2018. As a first step, the service will focus on trading Ripple (XRP/USD), after which the exchange will expand their listing to bitcoin (Bitcoin) and bitcoin cash (Bitcoin.Cash). The statement added that SBI’s Virtual Currencies will provide the “world’s highest level of low-latency trading environment by adopting NASDAQ’s transaction system (matching system).” In order to provide “a secure platform”, SBI Virtual Currencies has partnered with SECOM Trust Systems on wallet management.
By Nadya Astam