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Fireblocks — global MPC custody infrastructure provider (Japan rollout)

Confidence: Likely Updated 2026-05-19 Review by 2027-05-19 Sources 6 Machine-translated Original (JA)
#fintech#jp-custody#fireblocks#mpc-custody#foreign-vendor
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This entry sits under exchanges index. Read it with FSA crypto-asset exchange registration system — number system / Local Finance Bureau jurisdiction / registration requirements for adjacent context and Japan Financial Regulation — Legal Framework for Tokens, Crypto Assets, and Payments for the broader system boundary.

No FSA crypto-asset exchange registration · Not a JVCEA member · A B2B infrastructure vendor · US headquarters (New York) · Has a Tokyo base (around 5 名 employees · confirmed via LinkedIn)

1. Corporate / shareholders

  • Trade name (global): Fireblocks Inc.
  • English name: Fireblocks
  • Japan base: Formal incorporation not confirmed (as of 2026-05 ). On LinkedIn, around 5 名 Tokyo-based employees are confirmed to be on staff
  • Global headquarters: New York City, USA (on registration). R&D / founding was in Tel Aviv, Israel
  • Established: 2018 年 (Israeli-originated, then moved to a US HQ)
  • Form: An unlisted private company
  • Principal shareholders: Sequoia Capital (Series D co-lead), Paradigm (Series B lead), BNY Mellon (investment participation 2021-03), Google Ventures, and several other VCs
  • Latest valuation: $8 billion (as of the 2022-01 Series E)

2. License / registration status

  • Japan FSA crypto-asset exchange business: No registration (provides B2B to Japanese VASPs as an infrastructure SaaS vendor)
  • JVCEA membership: Not a member
  • US licenses: Holds the Fireblocks Trust Company (a US trust company) (since 2024 年)
  • EU: Expanding its provision to European banks / institutions as MiCA-compliant infrastructure
  • Positioning under Japanese regulation: A foreign-capital software vendor that provides systems / infrastructure to VASPs, banks, and trust banks within Japan. Because it is not itself an operator that custodies or handles crypto assets, the structure is one where Japanese crypto-asset exchange registration is unnecessary

3. Supported assets

  • BTC, ETH, EVM-line altcoins in general, Solana, Sui, and other major L1/L2 ; stablecoins (USDC, USDT, electronic payment instruments issued by various banks)
  • Tokenized RWA (real estate, commodities, securities)
  • NFT management (at the B2B infrastructure level)
  • Publicly stated number of supported chains: 50+ blockchains (regularly expanding)

4. Scope of operations / main products

  • MPC Custody (Multi-Party Computation): Distributed custody of private keys. A combination of hardware isolation + MPC. Provides industry-standard-level security for global financial institutions
  • Policy Engine: A governance layer where transfer rules, approval flows, and compliance gates can be configured
  • Treasury Management: The Fireblocks Network, which executes the sending and receiving of digital assets with exchanges / counterparties without private-key exposure
  • Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS): API provision of non-custodial / custodial MPC wallets for enterprises
  • Embedded Wallets: White-label wallets for consumers (strengthened by the acquisition of Dynamic)
  • Tokenization Engine: Minting, transfer, and smart-contract management of RWA
  • Fireblocks Network for Payments: A network specialized in stablecoin settlement (provision began 2025-09 )
  • DeFi Access: DeFi-protocol connection linked with the policy engine
  • COR Compliance: A MiCA / AML/CFT-compliant compliance package

5. Market position / competitive comparison

The global institutional custody market

VendorCharacteristicsPosition
FireblocksMPC + policy engine, SaaS, 2,400+ institutionsAmong the largest global-share institution-oriented MPC infrastructure
BitGoCombined trust + MPC, US-regulation-compliantA long-established institution-oriented player. Also direct custody
Anchorage DigitalHolds a federal-bank charter (the only one in the US)Regulation-compliant, US-centered
Ledger EnterpriseHSM + Vault, French-originatedHW-focused for large banks
KomainuOf the Nomura + Ledger + CoinShares lineInstitution-oriented, Asia rollout (see jp-custody-komainu for details)

Domestic Japanese competition / division of turf

vs. Ginco (a domestic independent):

  • Ginco touts itself as the “No. 1 -share-in-Japan wallet for crypto-asset business” and has captured the MPC-wallet demand of domestic VASPs / financial institutions. Its strengths are Japanese-language support, FSA-regulation-compliance know-how, and linkage with domestic HSMs (see Japan Institutional Custody Three-Pillar Structure — Komainu / Ginco / Fireblocks Japan Comparison for the industry layout)
  • Fireblocks competes in the same area but differentiates itself with its global network (Fireblocks Network), abundant DeFi integrations, and the completeness of its policy engine. It is building up a track record of selection by major megabanks / foreign-capital institutions
  • In fact, STIR (a domestic Web 3 consultancy) handled support for building a staking system for CoinTrade using Fireblocks (2024-02), and adoption via domestic vendors is also advancing

vs. Komainu (the Nomura line):

  • Komainu provides direct custody (a Jersey TCSP license / a Dubai VARA license) as an institution-oriented, regulation-compliant custodian. It itself becomes the custodian
  • Fireblocks, as “infrastructure SaaS,” provides the tools for financial institutions to carry out custody operations themselves. The business model is different — it is less a competition than a division of turf
  • However, in deals to strengthen trust banks’ / VASPs’ in-house custody, a Fireblocks vs. Komainu consideration can run in parallel

6. History / Japan rollout

Year/monthEvent
2017While investigating the $200M theft from a Korean exchange by the Lazarus Group, Michael Shaulov and others from Check Point felt a sense of urgency
2018Fireblocks Inc. established (Israel)
2019-06Formally announced, out of stealth, with $16M raised
2020-11Series B $30M (Paradigm lead)
2021-03Series C $133M / BNY Mellon investment participation
2021-07Series D $310M (Sequoia co-lead), valuation $2.2B
2022-01Series E $550M, valuation $8B
2022Acquired First Digital (Israeli stablecoin settlement) for $100M. Institution-oriented joint rollout with FIS
2023Acquired BlockFold (Australia, smart contracts)
2024-02Japan: STIR supported the building of a CoinTrade staking system utilizing Fireblocks MPC
2025-04Japan: a 5 社 of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group / Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation / TIS / Ava Labs / Fireblocks jointly studied the commercialization of stablecoins (announced 2025-04-07)
2025-09Fireblocks Network for Payments launched (a network dedicated to stablecoin settlement)
2025-10Acquired Dynamic (US, wallet technology) for $90M
2026-01Acquired TRES Finance (crypto-asset accounting) for $130M
2026-05Japan: completed an integration proof-of-concept with AndGo Wallet (a domestic HW wallet) (jointly with Intertrade and others)

Early involvement in Japan:

  • A joint study of stablecoin + Web 3 wallet commercialization with Minna Bank / TIS / Solana Japan (timing not yet determined, around 2024-2025 )
  • Mitsui & Co. Digital Commodities (MDC): an RWA token company established by Mitsui & Co. Adopted Fireblocks as a multi-chain rollout platform. Issues Zipangcoin (gold-collateralized), platinum, and silver-collateralized tokens. MDC disclosed an issuance ceiling of JPY 39 億円 (operating since 2022-02 )

7. Recent developments (2025-2026)

  • As of 2026-05 , 2,400 institutions globally use Fireblocks ($10T+ in transactions, 550M+ wallets)
  • Won “Best Blockchain Technology Platform (Digital Assets)” at the Asian Banker Business Achievement Awards 2026 (Kuala Lumpur, 2026)
  • A 12 行-bank European consortium, “Qivalis,” adopted it as a EUR-stablecoin issuance platform (2026)
  • Western Union adopted it as the settlement infrastructure for the $USDPT stablecoin (a Philippines / Bolivia leading rollout)
  • Japan: In 2026-05 there was a CoinPost CEO-interview report, “Fireblocks CEO talks Japan-market strategy” (the detailed content should be checked against the published article)
  • There are IPO observations: Bloomberg reported in 2025-11 that “Fireblocks is considering a fundraising for the buyback of employee equity stakes”

8. Management / Japan base

Global founders 3 名:

  • Michael Shaulov — CEO / co-founder (Israeli-born, a former Check Point employee)
  • Pavel Berengoltz — CTO / co-founder
  • Idan Ofrat — CPO / co-founder

Japan base:

  • Around 5 名 Tokyo-based employees confirmed on LinkedIn (as of 2026-05 )
  • The name of the Japan-base representative / Country Manager could not be confirmed as disclosed (not disclosed)
  • The corporate-registration form of the base (branch / godo kaisha / liaison office, etc.) is not confirmed

Sources