We are pleased to announce that Recruit Co., Ltd. (Recruit Holdings), a global tech corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, has made a strategic investment in the Blockstack network. Recruit is one of the biggest Japanese internet companies with more than a $50 billion market cap. With Recruit’s help, the Stacks Blockchain and Blockstack developer tools will be introduced to forward-thinking developers in Japan.

Recruit Holdings has taken a decidedly human approach to technology since they formed in 1960. With large acquisitions of people focused businesses like Glassdoor ($1.2 billion) and Indeed ($1 billion) already under their belt, they are now leaning into the possibilities of blockchain with their blockchain fund and other efforts. Their corporate governance pledge of “ensuring transparency, appropriateness, and effectiveness of management to promote the sustainable increase of corporate value” aligns with Blockstack’s community-oriented approach and we’re excited to work with their team to bring more decentralized technology to Tokyo and beyond.

Japan is a key market when it comes to technology adoption. It is also a global leader in blockchain regulation which complements the regulatory work Blockstack has done in the US. The Stacks token, Blockstack’s native asset, was the first offering to receive qualification from the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US. Japan is one of the few countries with a well-established regulatory framework for crypto assets.

Recruit Strategic Partners, the investing team who led the investment at Recruit said: “Blockstack was an obvious choice for our next investment via the RSP Blockchain Tech Fund. We are constantly looking to uncover the most innovative, new technologies and business models, with the goal of increasing awareness of this technology in Japan. We are excited to support the expansion of Blockstack’s developer base, as the team continues to accelerate the growth of the Blockstack ecosystem.”

“We believe that the world is moving from cloud computing to decentralized computing and with this strategic investment we plan to explore use cases of Blockstack in the different cloud verticals that Recruit operates in,” said Blockstack PBC CEO Muneeb Ali.

You can read more about the strategic investment in the press release by Recruit HD here (or in Japanese). For our Japanese speaking community, you can read the Japanese translation of the Blockstack Distributed Computing Network Whitepaper here: ブロックスタック分散コンピューティングネットワーク.

About Blockstack PBC:

Blockstack PBC is a public benefit corporation focused on pushing the decentralized Blockstack computing network forward. The privacy-centric network is pioneering applications that return online data ownership to consumers. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in New York City with a team spanning Hong Kong, San Francisco, Chicago, Toronto, Barcelona and Washington. Blockstack PBC is funded by Union Square Ventures, Y Combinator, Lux Capital, Digital Currency Group, Naval Ravikant and others. For more information, please visit blockstack.org.

About RSP Blockchain Tech Fund:

RSP Blockchain Tech Fund Pte. Ltd. aims to uncover new technologies, new business models, as well as business opportunities for Recruit Group in the area of blockchain technology, with the goal of contributing to the development and increased awareness of this technology.

About Recruit Group:

Founded in 1960, the Recruit Group creates and provides platforms that connect companies and consumers. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, the Group offers a wide range of services in a variety of areas including human resources, education, housing and real estate, bridal, travel, automobiles, dining and beauty. The Group has more than 45,000 employees and operates in more than 60 countries. For more information, please visit the company’s website at https://recruit-holdings.com/ .

Important disclaimer

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has qualified the offering statement that we have filed with the SEC. The information in that offering statement is more complete than the information we are providing now, and could differ in important ways. You must read the documents filed with the SEC before investing. The offering is being made only by means of its offering statement. This document shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

An indication of interest involves no obligation or commitment of any kind. Any person interested in investing in any offering of Stacks Tokens should review our disclosures and the publicly filed offering statement and the final offering circular that is part of that offering statement here. Blockstack is not registered, licensed or supervised as a broker dealer or investment adviser by the SEC, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) or any other financial regulatory authority or licensed to provide any financial advice or services.