Chinese token teams flock to Japan for listings after domestic bans

The CEO of Coincheck, a leading Asian cryptocurrency exchange based in Tokyo, said that Coincheck has received many requests from Chinese companies to list tokens on the exchange, although he is very careful about accepting those requests.

The requests came after the Chinese government banned initial coin offerings (ICOs) at the beginning of September and closed all of the country's virtual currency exchanges afterward.

"We are receiving hundreds of requests from Chinese start-ups and start-ups around the world asking us to list their tokens, after the Chinese government banned ICOs," Kagayaki Kawabata, head of international business development at Coincheck, told the Global Times on Saturday. He didn't give further details.

ICOs are a process whereby companies publicly raise virtual currencies (mostly Bitcoin) by issuing new crypto tokens.

Major Bitcoin trading exchanges in China such as huobi.com, jubi.com and btcchina.com also complied with government orders and ceased their trading business of virtual currencies by the end of September.

As China shut the door on crypto token trading, many Chinese teams are turning to overseas exchanges with the hope of listing their tokens.

According to Kawabata, unlike China, Japan is relatively supportive of cryptocurrencies. "If Chinese tokens can meet the criteria that exchanges will set, Japan will be a great place to list tokens," he noted.

On September 29, Japan issued operating licenses to 11 Bitcoin exchanges, coindesk.com reported on the same day.

Zhang, head of a Shanghai-based virtual currency project who declined to disclose his full name, told the Global Times earlier that he plans to list the token on a Japanese exchange. He also said he plans to establish a research center for the token in Sweden.

But Kawabata said that Coincheck is "careful" about listing ICO tokens on the exchange. "Thorough due diligence is essential to make sure if the ICO is reliable," he noted.

He said Coincheck is still in the process of creating a clear set of criteria for listing new tokens.

"What we are planning to look for is their current market capitalization, team, investors, advisors, and the technology behind it. While there are tons of untrustworthy ICO projects all around the world, we have a responsibility to wipe out scammers," he told the Global Times, adding that once it decides on the criteria for listing tokens, they will start investigating promising cryptocurrencies that can be listed.