DMM, a major entertainment conglomerate in Japan, which also operates a widely utilized e-commerce platform used by more than 27 million active members, will launch a cryptocurrency exchange this month. Seven Cryptocurrencies, Accepting Applications on January 11DMM Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency exchange of the entertainment giant, will begin accepting applications from local traders and investors as early as January 11, after the exchange officially launches on January 10. Given that DMM Bitcoin is a financial institution regulated by Japan’s Financial Service Agency (FSA), it is required to implement strict Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policies and systems. As such, similar to other exchanges in the Japanese cryptocurrency market, DMM Bitcoin will likely carry out a rigorous verification process for traders, especially for large-scale and high profile individual investors. The official statement released by DMM obtained by Bitcoin.com read:”DMM Bitcoin will launch a new service site for virtual currency trading on January 10, 2018, and we plan to start accepting account opening applications on January 11. There are 7 virtual currencies that can be traded, 3 currency pairs for spot trading and 14 currency pairs for leveraged transactions.”Upon its launch, DMM Bitcoin will only support seven hand-picked cryptocurrencies in bitcoin, Ethereum, NEM, Ripple, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, and Bitcoin Cash. While the method the company utilized to come up with the list of the abovementioned seven cryptocurrencies remains unclear, DMM Bitcoin has only added cryptocurrencies with strong markets, user bases, and daily trading volumes. Competition Against GMO and Huobi Japan / SBILast year, GMO Group, a multi-billion dollar internet company based in Japan, launched a cryptocurrency exchange of its own, listing five digital assets, with a $90 million budget. In contrast to the funding rounds other major brokerages and trading platforms in the global market like Coinbase has received, the initial capital of GMO Group was relatively small. But, over time, GMO Group expanded its cryptocurrency venture, launching a bitcoin mining center and mining equipment manufacturing factory to produce ASIC mining chips. Given that GMO Group’s exchange targets high profile investors and institutional investors, DMM Bitcoin will directly compete against the GMO cryptocurrency exchange. Last week, CCN also reported that Huobi, formerly the largest cryptocurrency exchange in China prior to the imposition of a nationwide ban on cryptocurrency trading by the government, announced its expansion to Japan and South Korea through a partnership with SBI Holdings, one of the largest banks in Japan.”SBI Holdings has reached a basic agreement with Huobi Group (1.65 million accounts, maximum daily transaction volume of over CNY 30 billion (approximately JPY 510 billion), which has a track record of stably operating a major cryptocurrency exchange in China, to explore the following alliances,” the official statement released by SBI Holdings on December 7 read,” the official announcement of SBI Holdings read. The entrance of GMM into the local cryptocurrency exchange market of Japan will lead to a broader distribution of trading volumes, which is better for the market and for the investors. BitFlyer, GMM Bitcoin, Huobi, and GMO will compete against each other to solidify their positions as leading cryptocurrency exchanges. Based on the performance of GMM Bitcoin, the company may also pursue its previous plans to establish a “bitcoin mining farm,” an ambitious project to match the production volumes of major regions such as China.”DMM Mining Farm” will operate a mass-scale, made-in-Japan quality mining farm whose operating size will be unmatched by any of the domestic operators…During the year 2018, DMM will be one of the 10 largest mining farms in the world,” said DMM. Featured image from Shutterstock