Tokyo Police arrested Mark Karpeles on August 1, 2015. At the time, the department accused Kapeles of embezzling $350 million worth of bitcoin.
The miracle of this debacle is that bitcoin has survived at all in Japan. After Mt. Gox, the Japanese associated bitcoin with the exchange - and who wouldn't since 70% of bitcoin transactions went through the Tokyo exchange.
Fast forward to April 1st, 2017, and a new law went into effect that recognizes bitcoin as legal tender in Japan. Yes, in the country where one of the biggest bitcoin frauds went down, bitcoin is being used alongside the 2nd most liquid currency on the planet.
As far as price goes, we have all seen the explosion in bitcoin's price. Since April 1st, bitcoin has gone from a recovery price of $1,100 (after bottoming at $950 on March 25th) to a new high on Coinbase today of $1,794. The Japanese are joining the bitcoin party again.
Ironically, the catalyst for this breakthrough was the arrest of Kapeles over the issues at Mt. Gox. After seizing Karpeles, an intense debate began between the financial elites and the cryptocurrency industry. Japan's Financial System Council starting working on legislation in the fall of 2014, and by December of 2015, it was ready for review.
The National Diet (Japan's house legislative branch) approved the bill last May, and 11 months later it opened bitcoin to a larger user base.
We have already seen some of the ripple effects of this bill in bitcoin's price and the subsequent cash flow into the crypto universe. The thing is, it is just beginning.
Japan currently has 5,000 merchants that accept bitcoin for payments. Since the new law has gone into effect, we can expect that to increase significantly.
AirREGI is the POS application for Recruit Holdings, and they will be adding bitcoin payments soon. AirREGI is used by 260,000 retail centers.
China is also joining in on this action. AirREGI is compatible with Alipay, which is the Paypal service of Alibaba. This equals millions of Chinese being able to spend their bitcoins in Japan when they go on holiday.
All of this bodes well for Japan when they host the 2020 Summer Olympics - you can imagine the possibilities there.
The bottom line is, Japan accepting bitcoin lays another brick on the highway for mass adoption.
Thank you for visiting.