Four years since the Japanese government removed all cryptocurrency ATMs in Japan following the hack of a local exchange, Japan will once again have cryptocurrency automated teller machines (ATMs). The Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Gaia will bring back crypto ATMs to Japan with plans to install some in Tokyo and Osaka.
Japanese financial regulators have not always been antagonistic to crypto ATMs. In fact, prior to 2018’s cryptocurrency bear market, the country had plenty of crypto ATMs. However, the hack of the crypto platform, Coincheck, changed the Japanese regulators’ stance. Hackers breached Coincheck’s security and stole almost $500 million worth of its NEM tokens resulting in lawmakers shutting down all crypto ATMs in the country.
A press release confirmed that things were about to change once again as local exchange, Gaia will install crypto ATMs in Tokyo and Osaka. For now, the machines will support four of the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap; Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC). The company plans to deploy 50 crypto ATMs in the next 12 months and that number should increase to 130 in three years.
The crypto ATMs will allow Japanese consumers to withdraw maximum of 100,000 Yen ($747) per transaction with a 24 hour market cap of 300,000 yen ($2,240). This is part of the anti-moneylaundering laws that Gaia intends to comply with. President of Gaia, Motohiro Ogura, spoke highly about the move while stating that Gaia is the first domestic exchange to install ATMs in the country.
In the world today, the United States leads the pack in the number of cryptocurrency ATMs. The U.S. has almost 34,000 crypto ATMs which is statistically, ten ATMs per 100,000 citizens. Canada follows behind with 2,500 cryptocurrency ATMs. Interestingly, Hong Kong has the biggest density of crypto ATMs due to its small area. Residents can find one crypto ATM every 7 kilometers while Switzerland comes second with a crypto ATM every 260 kilometers.
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