Bitcoin exchange bitFlyer has opened access to its BTC/Japanese yen trading pair for U.S. customers, according to a release sent to Bitcoin Magazine.
The option opens new access to Japan’s bitcoin market for U.S. traders. The bitFlyer team announced the new access at the Bitcoin 2021 conference.
“Thanks to the launch of cross-border trading on bitFlyer USA, American traders can now access a regulated JPY market for buying and selling bitcoin, and capture its unique trading opportunities,” per the release. “bitFlyer is Japan’s leading cryptocurrency exchange by volume and manages the largest BTC/JPY market. In the first quarter of 2021, bitFlyer’s BTC/JPY spot market posted over $30 billion in trading volume, representing 40% of the Japanese Bitcoin ecosystem.”
The announcement added that bitFlyer’s yen market is as large as or larger than the BTC/USD market of major exchanges like Bitstamp, Kraken and Gemini.
“Over the last few years, Japan has been the second largest market in the bitcoin ecosystem, behind the U.S. dollar, with wide adoption of crypto both among traders and in day-to-day purchases,” according to the announcement. “Historically, however, access to Japanese markets was limited due to regulatory constraints, creating significant gaps in price and a somewhat siloed ecosystem from the rest of the world. By opening up access to U.S. traders, bitFlyer will be the gateway to connect the Japanese market to the wider cryptocurrency ecosystem.”