Yoshitaka Kitao is CEO of SBI Holdings, Japan’s leading financial services group. At the Japan Blockchain Conference, Kitao said “he’s betting that blockchain technology will bring the next boom to the Japanese economy.”

Blockchain is supposed to trigger a new economic boom

Japan still had the world’s second-largest gross domestic product (GDP) in the 1970s and 1980s, but at the beginning of the 1990s Japan’s economy stagnated. SBI chairman Kitao, sees the new technology as a great opportunity that could trigger a renewed economic boom in the next few years and steers SBI towards blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

“We want to bring Blockchain beyond finances,” Yoshitaka Kitao said at the conference. “There is a lot of speculative demand for cryptocurrencies, so the price is rising so fast, but people have to think about how these technologies can be used in real life and how they can improve people’s business.”

To drive the recovery in Japan and throughout East Asia, SBI launched a $ 460 million “AI & Blockchain Fund” earlier this year. According to Forbes, the SBI even plans to open its own crypto exchange, which will be launched this summer. Also in a wind farm, which should provide the necessary power to mine Bitcoin Cash, money should have flowed.

SBI Holdings is also a longtime partner of Ripple. The two companies jointly own and operate SBI Ripple Asia, a coalition to investigate how Ripples Blockchain can help facilitate cross-border transfers between banks.

Strict regulations could slow down development

However, there is also concern that Japan’s blockchain and cryptocurrency industry could be slowed down by strict regulation. Earlier this year, the Japanese government issued new regulations for crypto exchanges operating in the country, prompting some of these trading platforms to cease operations in Japan.

Following a rapid rise in the Bitcoin price last year, fears of a global repressive move led to a sharp decline in the overall market in 2018. Cases such as illegal ICOs, laundering, tax evasion and market manipulation are an ongoing issue for many regulators this year.