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Bitcoin Japan The Almighty Buck

Japan Could Have More Than 3 Million Cryptocurrency Traders (coindesk.com) 35

Posted by BeauHD from the there's-more-where-that-came-from dept.
According to Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA), the country has at least 3.5 million individuals that are trading with cryptocurrencies as actual assets. "Among them, crypto investors in their 20s, 30s and 40s make up a major share, accounting for 28, 34, and 22 percent, respectively, of the total crypto trader population in Japan," reports CoinDesk. From the report: Announced at the first meeting of a cryptocurrency exchange study group established by the FSA in early March, the data release marks the latest effort by the financial watchdog in bringing greater transparency to the industry following a recent hack of one of the domestic exchange Coincheck. According to the FSA, the study and disclosure of the domestic trading statistics is a first step towards a more comprehensive examination over institutional issues in the cryptocurrency trading space in Japan. In comparison, the financial regulator also disclosed in the latest report that the number of traders investing in cryptocurrency margins and futures is about 142,842 as of the end of March. What's perhaps notable is the major contrast in the growth of yearly trading volume drawn to these two different types of investments. According to the FSA's data, for example, yearly trading volume of the actual bitcoin cryptocurrency has grown from $22 million as of Mar. 31 in 2014 to $97 billion in 2017. Yet at the same time, trading on margins, credit and futures of bitcoin as an underlying asset has surged from only $2 million in 2014 to a whopping $543 billion just in 2017 alone, the agency said.
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Japan Could Have More Than 3 Million Cryptocurrency Traders More

Japan Could Have More Than 3 Million Cryptocurrency Traders

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  • Japan has about 1.8% of the world's population. The quote oft attributed to P.T. Barnum is that there's a sucker born every minute [wikipedia.org], which would suggest that about 9,500 are born each year in Japan. Thus this would represent more than 300 years supply of suckers. Perhaps they import them to make up the numbers.

    • Do you really believe this?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Are you accounting for change in birth rate since P. T. Barnum's quote? :P
      Joking aside, perhaps you're aware that "there's a $(noun) $(verb) every minute" is a figure of speech that's never intended to be taken literally.

      Japan's population is 127 million. 3 / 127 = 2.4%. Even though Japanese people are smarter than the world average, the dumbest 2.4% are still dumber than a sack of rocks.
      (* Hint: That's "dumber than a sack of rocks" is figure of speech, too.)

  • not surprising (Score:5, Interesting)

    by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Tuesday April 10, 2018 @10:10PM (#56415881) Journal
    Not surprising, since they advertise bitcoin on the train and billboards all over the place.

    • Don't forget about the official certifications (Score:4, Insightful)

      by thesjaakspoiler ( 4782965 ) on Tuesday April 10, 2018 @11:59PM (#56416237)
      It almost looks like a risk free investment if the Ministry of Finance hands out official certifications to all those bitcoin investment companies. And with interest rates close to zero on savings ($.48 on $100K saving) and no ROI on any other type of investments, a lot of Japanese are looking for other ways to invest their money.

      • "a lot of Japanese are looking for other ways to invest their money."

        Sure. And maybe US and other G7 assets are a bit overpriced. And maybe China isn't a great place to invest either. And who wants to bet money on the future of some tropical hellhole full of crazed, incomprehensible, and quite possibly incompetent gaijin? But ...

        "... at the same time, trading on margins, credit and futures of bitcoin as an underlying asset has surged from only $2 million in 2014 to a whopping $543 billion just in 2017 a

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Whibla ( 210729 )

          Half a trillion USD in speculative "investment" in a historically volatile (and somewhat imaginary) commodity? What could possibly go wrong? By way of comparison, the sum of all Japanese holdings of US Treasury notes is about 1 trillion USD.

          While I feel much the same way, you appear to be conflating investment / holdings with trading volume.

          Admittedly, the picture when we look at just volumes* is not much prettier:

          Daily 'Crypto' trading volumes (2017) was roughly $1.5 billion / day.
          Daily 'Stocks' trading volumes (2017) was roughly $25 billion / day.

          In other words trading in 'cryptos' now accounts for about 17% of all financial trading activity in Japan. Startling doesn't even begin to describe this statistic!

          *figures are pretty rough and round

          • I probably agree with you, but I'm not quite sure how 1.5B is 17% of 25B.

            Doesn't matter. What makes me nervous is that I remember all too clearly how a decade ago we were told that ludicrous sums in improbable financial instruments (CDOs, etc) was not a problem because everything would net out to zero. Except ... it turns out that the bets don't net out to zero if some of the players can't cover their bets.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Whibla ( 210729 )

              ...but I'm not quite sure how 1.5B is 17% of 25B...

              It isn't. My bad. Mental arithmetic failure, resulted in me inverting the two... should be 6%. Thank you.

              And I do share your nervousness. Leverage on the scale these figures imply is a financial disaster waiting to happen.

    • Re: not surprising (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      When I was in Akihabara a few months ago, there were plenty of "We accept bitcoin" signs in main stores. And I mean Yodabashi or Big Camera, not a small one in a shitty alley .

  • Analytics? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Seriously.. how does this article able to display the age of the traders? How did they gain this information? How was it correlated? Did the traders consent this as public information?

    • You get data from the age table and not correlate it with names, then aggregate it.
      Most crypto exchanges require an ID scan for you to be able to engage in meaningful trading.

  • Are any of them trading with cryptocurrency as currency? Or are they just tossing it back and forth as 'assets.'

    It can't be a currency unless the value stabilizes. If it's an 'investment' it's a poor idea to use it for a currency.

  • Has it always been the case that 'investors' were greedy, ignorant sheep? Or are these the same percentage as usual, the ones that pile into the latest fad and make the real investors rich? We have a messed up society where it is less effort and same reward for trading made-up numbers than starting a new business. Technical trading versus fundamentals I suppose, but it also looks a lot like gambling - I would be interested to see if the long term prospects are any better than betting on the horses! One more
  • With bitcoin and all other crypto currencies, the amount of money paid to "investors" equals the amount of money paid by other "investors", minus some inevitable losses, minus all the cost involved with trading. In other words, not even a zero sum game.

    The safest thing is to watch them masturbate from a safe distance and keep your money in your pocket. And should you find a bank lending money for buying crypto currency, avoid that bank.
  • Withdrawal problem from this crypto exchanges have caused me a lot of lost, i lost 7 bitcoin first and lost cryptocurrency worth $68000 worth again with bitrex, i was thinking ill probably have to sell my two cars to cut the lose, but a friend who got into cryptocurrency earlier than I did referred me to riotchargeback,at,tuta.io. while I was sure bent that my money was lost, to my almost surprise and shock,I got my money back . He only charge 10% after recovery ,for me that’s fair enough ,didn’

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