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Mercoin, Inc. — Japan crypto-asset exchange operator overview

Confidence: Likely Updated 2026-05-18 Review by 2026-08-08 Sources 5 Machine-translated Original (JA)
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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.

FSA registration number Kanto Local Finance Bureau 第00030号 · JVCEA member #1039 · registration date 2022-06-17

1. Corporation / shareholders

  • Trade name: Mercoin, Inc. / Mercoin, Inc.
  • Established: 2021年4月28日
  • Head-office location: Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, 6-chome 10-ban 1号, Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
  • Parent company: a wholly owned subsidiary of Mercari, Inc. (TSE Prime 4385)
  • Affiliated company: Merpay, Inc. (an in-group fintech sister company)
  • no disclosure of capital / investment ratio

2. License / registration status

  • Crypto-asset exchange business: Director-General of the Kanto Local Finance Bureau 第00030号 (registration date 2022-06-17)
  • Financial-instruments business: not acquired (no support for derivatives trading)
  • Electronic-payment-instruments business, etc.: not acquired
  • JVCEA membership: Type I, crypto-asset exchange business only (member number 1039)

3. Handled currencies

  • Number of handled brands: 3 types (confirmed as of 2025-04-24)
    • Bitcoin (BTC) — handling started 2023-03
    • Ethereum (ETH) — added 2024-05-21
    • XRP — added 2025-04-24
  • Order-book trading (exchange format) is not provided. All brands are sales-outlet format only (with spread, no fees)
  • Leveraged trading / derivatives: not supported

4. Business scope

  • Spot sales outlet: buying and selling of BTC / ETH / XRP
  • Crypto-asset accumulation function: BTC (started 2024-08-01), ETH (started 2024-10-22). Supports automatic deduction from the Merpay balance (2024-12), added a daily-accumulation function (2025-07-31)
  • Bitcoin payment: Bitcoin payment in shopping within Mercari (started 2024-02-15)
  • Point-granting function: grants monthly Mercari points simply by holding eligible crypto assets (started 2024-12-18)
  • Fiat-currency deposit channel: Merpay-balance charging (bank / ATM transfer); direct purchase with Mercari sales proceeds / Mercari points is the biggest characteristic
  • Corporate services / staking: not provided (within the disclosed scope)

5. Market share / trading volume

  • 2024-04 (approximately 1 year after the service start): number of users surpassed 200万 people (the company’s press release)
  • 2023-10 (7 months after the service start): number of users surpassed 100万 people
  • 2024-05: the company announced that the number of crypto-asset account openings in the most recent 1 year was No. 1 in the industry (MMD Labo survey)
  • detailed figures such as monthly trading volume / assets-in-custody balance: not disclosed
  • Customer base: individual retail centered on existing Mercari users (smartphone users). Designed for small-amount purchases from 1 円
  • Position within the competition: officially claimed to be in the industry-top class by number of account openings. However, trader-oriented functions are limited, and as a full-fledged buying-and-selling platform it makes a different segment its main battlefield from the major specialized exchanges (bitFlyer / bitbank, etc.). Its retail-economic-sphere linkage forms the Domestic CEX × points-economy integration model pattern alongside Rakuten Wallet, Inc. — Japan crypto-asset exchange overview.

6. History / major incidents

Year/monthEvent
2021-04-02announcement of the establishment of Mercoin, Inc. (Mercari group)
2021-04-28corporate establishment (registration)
2021-07-01joined the JCBA (Japan Crypto-asset Business Association)
2021-09-13joined the JVCEA
2022-06-17completed FSA crypto-asset exchange business registration (Kanto Local Finance Bureau 第00030号)
2022-11Mercari group Fintech business strategy briefing (FY 2022年)
2023-03-09official start of the Bitcoin trading service within the “Mercari” app (BTC sales outlet + sales-proceeds purchase UX)
2023-05-26notice regarding an absorption-type merger (details not disclosed; appears to have absorbed Basset, Inc.)
2023-10-16number of users surpassed 100万 people 7 months after the service start
2024-05-21added Ethereum (ETH) trading
2024-04-11number of users surpassed 200万 people approximately 1 year after the service start
2024-05-30announced that the number of account openings in the most recent 1 year was No. 1 in the industry
2024-02-15started offering the Bitcoin payment function (BTC became usable for purchases within Mercari)
2024-08-01started the Bitcoin accumulation function
2024-10-22started the Ethereum accumulation function
2025-04-24added XRP trading
2025-08-05concluded a business-alliance agreement with Coincheck (within the disclosed scope)
  • Administrative dispositions / hacks / major outages: no cases confirmable within the disclosed scope (as of 2026-05-18)

7. Strategic developments

  • Business alliance with Coincheck (concluded 2025-08-05): detailed terms are non-public
  • Pace of brand expansion: increasing at a pace of 1 brands per year, BTC (2023) → ETH (2024-05) → XRP (2025-04)
  • Expansion of the accumulation function: the accumulation targets expanded from BTC → ETH, with a daily-accumulation option added (2025-07)
  • XJPY / XUSD industry-wide stablecoin: announced participation in joint study with Ginco, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust, and Progmat in 2023-11 (commercialization schedule, etc. not disclosed)
  • The positioning as the fintech three pillars of the Mercari group (Merpay: payment / remittance / credit / Mercard: credit card / Mercoin: crypto assets) is clear. Mercoin is positioned as the core of the blockchain / Web 3 strategy
  • Representative Director / CEO: Keita Nakamura — assumed office 2023-04 . Joined Mercari as a new graduate (2018), R&4D blockchain engineer → Merpay → via Mercoin CPO
  • Director / CRCO: Masahiro Shidachi — former Nomura HD global-risk-management MD. Joined 2023-09 , 2024-07 current position
  • Director / CTO: Takahito Yamatoya — former bitFlyer executive officer, head of the system-development division
  • Director / CISO: Yuki Saito
  • Directors: Takeshi Nagasawa (former bitFlyer executive officer), Masato Yamamoto (former Merpay Representative Director / CEO), Toshiya Kimura, Naohisa Ichihara (assumed office 2025-05 )

Sources