Japanese Internet Giant GMO Postpones Launching Bitcoin Trading Platform

By Kevin Helms 

Japanese conglomerate GMO Internet Group previously announced that its full-service bitcoin exchange and trading platform would open its doors to the public on May 24. The company has postponed the launch to May 31.

One Week Delay

Japanese Internet Giant GMO Postpones Launching Bitcoin Trading Platform to May 31Z.com Coin is GMO Internet Group’s full-service cryptocurrency exchange. Its launch was announced on May 9 as the platform opened for account pre-registration. Bitcoin.com reported on the announcement with details of the trading platform at the time.

However, the company has delayed the launch for a week, due to the growing number of bitcoin and blockchain transactions since its May 9 announcement, stating that (loosely translated):

We will provide customers with a stable trading environment and judge whether it is necessary to conduct additional service verification and system adjustment for the platform to be used with confidence. The start date of the service has been postponed to May 31, 2017.

The company apologized to customers who have pre-registered for accounts. “We deeply apologize for the inconvenience caused to customers who have already applied and are waiting for our service to open.”

Trading on GMO’s Bitcoin Exchange

GMO-Z.com Coin Ltd was established as GMO Wallet Co. Ltd in October 2016 with the purpose of developing a cryptocurrency exchange. In November 2016, the company began testing the system in preparation for the full-scale operation.

Japanese Internet Giant GMO Postpones Launching Bitcoin Trading Platform to May 31Two types of trading will be available at launch; Virtual Currency FX trading and Virtual Currency trading. The former is GMO’s bitcoin margin trading service, which the company described as similar to traditional over-the-counter foreign exchange (FX) margin trading. The latter is a bitcoin exchange service, allowing customers to buy and sell bitcoins.

The company states that trading fees are “0 yen” for all orders. Customers can trade 24-7 on the Z.com Coin exchange, starting at 0.001 bitcoin.

GMO already owns the world’s largest FX brokerage, GMO Click Securities. Bitcoin.com recently reported on a significant group of potential new bitcoin traders. This group is called “Mrs. Watanabe” or retail investors who currently favor FX margin trading, which is a $40 trillion market. Many of them are already trading on GMO Click FX platform, so Z.com Coin bitcoin exchange will offer them a convenient way to start investing in bitcoin. Other Japanese forex brokers that have applied to operate bitcoin exchanges include Money Partners Group and Kabu.com.

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