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Hong Kong's OSL Group, a publicly listed company focused on digital assets, has announced a strategic acquisition of CoinBest K.K., a licensed crypto exchange operating in Japan.
The company signed a share purchase agreement to acquire an 81.38% stake in the licensed crypto exchange operating in Japan, OSL said in an announcement on Monday.
Through this acquisition, OSL aims to achieve significant business synergies.
"Leveraging the robust foundation we’ve built in Hong Kong, we aim to bring our expertise in OTC, custody and trading services to new markets. Additionally, we look forward to gaining valuable insights and cutting-edge technologies from those markets to enhance our offerings and strengthen our competitive edge across the board,"Ivan Wong, OSL Group chief investment officer, said.
The collaboration will foster product and service innovation, resource sharing, and ultimately, enhanced global trading liquidity across their platforms. This includes OSL Digital Securities, a leading regulated digital asset platform in Hong Kong.
The decision to target Japan is strategic for OSL. Known for its regulatory maturity and rapidly growing adoption rate, the Japanese market presents a lucrative opportunity for OSL to expand its reach. With over 5.16 million active digital asset accounts in 2023, a 238% increase from 2018, Japan is a major player in the crypto space, OSL said, citing Statista data.
OSL Group's acquisition of CoinBest comes at a time of significant regulatory developments in Japan. The Financial Services Agency (FSA) has been actively working to establish a robust regulatory framework for digital assets, aiming to balance innovation with investor protection.
Japanese financial giants, including banks and crypto firms, have also been urging regulators to approve crypto ETFs and reduce the crypto tax rate from 55% to 20%.
Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki made lowering taxes on crypto one of his campaign pledges in the 2024 Japanese general elections that concluded last week, in which his party gained 17 more seats in the House of Representatives.
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