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00:00MIKE KAYAMORI. TELL US THE SECRET OF YOUR SUCCESS. WE KNOW WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING TO CRYPTOCURRENCY. WE HAVE SEEN THE FALL OF THOSE PRICES AND THE OUTLOOK IS PRETTY GRIM. HOW DID YOU MANAGE THIS $1 BILLION VALUATION? MIKE: I LOOK AT THE MARKET WHERE IT HAS REBOUNDED FROM THE BOTTOM. 2018 WAS THE YEAR OF CORRECTION. YOU CAN SEE THAT SENTIMENT AND EXCITEMENT COMING BACK AND IT IS BEING LED BY ASIA. RAMY: JAPAN HAS ONLY ONE UNICORN COMPARED WITH 16 IN THE U.S.5 AND 90 IN CHINA. THIS IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE THAT IS CLEAR AND START. WHAT IS HAPPENING OR NOT HAPPENING IN JAPAN THAT YOU NEED TO PUT YOUR FINGER ON HERE? MARK: I THINK THE CHALLENGE OF UNICORNS OR STARTUPS IN JAPAN IN GENERAL WAS ACCESS TO CAPITAL AND ACCESS TO MARKET WHERE YOU ARE CONFINED IN THE JAPANESE MARKET WHICH IS LARGE ENOUGH BUT NOT LARGE ENOUGH TO BE A GLOBAL UNICORN. HOWEVER, WHEN YOU LOOK AT CRYPTOCURRENCY WHICH IS INHERENTLY BORDERLESS AND GLOBAL THEN WHERE JAPAN IS LEADING THE MARKET IN TERMS OF TRANSACTION VOLUME, THAT COINCIDED WITH JAPAN LEADING THE CRYPTOCURRENCY INDUSTRY LED TO THIS VALUATION. EMILY: I WILL ASK A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT QUESTION WHICH IS HOW DO YOU JUSTIFY THAT VALUATION? TELL US HOW BIG YOUR BUSINESS IS, HOW MUCH BUSINESS YOU ARE DOING ASIDE FROM WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE BROADER MARKET. MIKE: YES, GREAT QUESTION. IN TERMS OF CRYPTO EXCHANGE -- AND THAT WAS A LOT OF CRYPTOCURRENCY ONLY EXCHANGES. CRYPTO TOKEN EXCHANGES. WHEN YOU LOOK AT ON-RAMP AND OFFRAMP IN TERMS OF CRYPTO IN U.S. DOLLARS OR JAPANESE YEN, WE ARE THE LARGEST THE WORLD. EMILY: YOU HAVE BEEN HIRING A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT POSITIONS. TELL US WHERE YOU ARE PUTTING THESE NEW EMPLOYEES AND HOW THAT DEFINES YOUR FOCUS. MIKE: YES, SO WE HAVE ABOUT 350 PEOPLE GLOBALLY. WE HAVE ABOUT 140 OUT OF JAPAN. WE ONLY OPERATE IN MARKETS THAT HAVE CLEAR REGULATORY GUIDANCE AND FRAMEWORK. WE ARE OPERATING OUT OF JAPAN AND WE ARE ALSO OPERATING OUT OF SINGAPORE. WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ASIA FOCUS BUT WITH HIS CAPITAL, WE ARE GOING INTO THE U.S. MARKET WITH OUR PARTNER LATER THIS YEAR. RAMY: LET'S GET MORE CLARITY. YOU HAVE THIS $1 BILLION VALUATION. WHERE ARE YOU SPECIFICALLY PUTTING YOUR MONEY WITH THESE NEW FUNDS? MIKE: GLOBAL EXPANSION IN TERMS OF ASIA WHERE WE WILL BE APPLYING FOR LICENSES AND KEY MARKETS, LIKE SINGAPORE. ALSO, JAPAN IS PASSING A NEW BILL AROUND CRYPTO DERIVATIVES. WE WILL BE APPLYING FOR THAT IN JAPAN AS WELL. ALSO, MARKETS SUCH AS U.S. AND EUROPE WHERE WE CAN BRING THE LOCAL LIQUIDITY THAT WE GENERATE FROM JAPAN TO THE GLOBAL MARKET. YES, WE WILL BE IN THE U.S. LATER THIS YEAR AND LOOK INTO EU AS WELL. RAMY: YOU MENTIONED SINGAPORE. IT SEEMS LIKE A FRIENDLIER PLACE WITH REGULATORY AS WELL AS TAXES. WHY THE MOVE FROM SINGAPORE TO JAPAN? MIKE: JAPAN, WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE RETAIL FX MARKET, IT HAS ALWAYS DOMINATED THE WORLD. JAPANESE USERS COMPARED TO EQUITIES OR 401(K)S PREFERRED. THEY WILL LOOK AT THE U.S. DOLLARS AND JAPANESE YEN AND TRADE BECAUSE JAPAN IS A LARGE EXPORT COUNTRY. TO THE JAPANESE RETAIL CUSTOMERS, CRYPTOCURRENCY WAS THE NEW SHINY ADJACENT MARKET TO THE FOREX. EMILY: USED TO WORK AT SOFTBANK. MASAYOSHI SON HAS SEEMED TO INVEST IN EVERYTHING BUT CRYPTOCURRENCY. VERTICAL FARMING, THEN TECH. HAVE YOU APPROACHED HIM OR ANY IDEA WHY HE IS NOT IN CRYPTO YET? MIKE: I THINK IT IS A MATTER OF TIME. HIS YOUNGER BROTHER IS AN INVESTOR IN OUR COMPANY. IT IS A MATTER OF TIMING. IT SHOWS THAT CRYPTOCURRENCY IS STILL EARLY. WHEN COMPANIES LIKE SOFTBANK COME IN, THAT IS WHAT IT IS GOING TO BE MASS ADOPTION. EMILY: HAVE YOU HAD ANY DISCUSSIONS WITH THE SOFTBANK TEAM? MIKE: I THINK THEY WILL FIND US

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Japan's Crypto-Trading Platform Liquid Group Sees Overseas Expansion

Mike Kayamori, chief executive officer and co-founder of Liquid Group Inc., a Tokyo-based crypto-currency trading platform, talks about his business strategy. Liquid Group said last week it had raised venture funds at a valuation in excess of $1 billion, making it one of the rare so-called unicorns in Japan. (Source: Bloomberg)

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