GMO コイン (GMO Coin)
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This entry sits under payment-firms INDEX. Read it against Monex Group for peer / contrast context and banking index for the broader system / regulatory boundary.
TL;DR
A crypto-asset exchange under the GMO Internet Group. Director-General of the Kanto Local Finance Bureau 第 00006 号 (one of the 1 earliest registrations in the industry), JVCEA Type 1 member. A major domestic player with a 3 -axis model of sales outlet + exchange + leveraged trading plus 20 + tradable currencies. The crypto-asset arm of the GMO financial ecosystem, alongside parent GMO Payment Gateway / GMO Click Securities / GMO Aozora Net Bank. Competitors are bitflyer / Coincheck (within monex-group) / SBI VC Trade (within sbi-hd) / DMM Bitcoin / bitbank / bittrade.
1. Company profile
Legal name: GMO Coin Co., Ltd. English name: GMO Coin, Inc. Established: 2016-10-21 Headquarters: Cerulean Tower 26-1 , Sakuragaoka-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo (within the GMO Internet Group headquarters) Business type: Crypto-asset exchange operator Registration number: Director-General of the Kanto Local Finance Bureau 第 00006 号 (crypto-asset exchange business) Industry body: Japan Virtual and Crypto assets Exchange Association (JVCEA) Type 1 member Parent company: GMO Financial HD (TSE PRIME 7177, voting rights 100%) → GMO Internet Group (TSE PRIME 9449)
Group structure
GMO Internet Group（9449 / TSE PRIME）
└── GMO Financial Holdings（7177 / TSE PRIME）
├── GMO Click Securities ── one of the largest in the online securities / FX industry
├── GMO Coin ★ ── this entry
├── GMO Gaika ── formerly FX Prime by GMO
└── overseas FX bases (Thailand, Hong Kong, UK, etc.)
└── [[payment-firms/gmo-payment-gateway|GMO ペイメントゲートウェイ]]（3769 / TSE PRIME）── the largest in the payment-processing industry
└── [[payment-firms/gmo-aozora-net|GMO あおぞらネット銀行]] ── a JV with Aozora Bank2. Business segment map
| Segment | Content | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| Sales outlet | Principal trading of customer vs GMO Coin | Spread-based; for beginners |
| Exchange (spot) | Order-book trading (customer-to-customer matching) | Centered on BTC / ETH / XRP / LTC / BCH |
| Leveraged trading | Crypto-asset FX (up to 2 x, individuals) | Offered since the early days of the industry; a main revenue source |
| Corporate OTC | Large-lot principal trading | Supports crypto-asset handling by institutional investors and listed companies |
| Staking | Some PoS currencies (ETH, etc.) | Rewards granted on deposited crypto-assets |
| Crypto-asset lending | Lending | For individuals |
Tradable currencies: BTC / ETH / XRP / LTC / BCH / XEM / XLM / BAT / OMG / XTZ / QTUM / ENJ / DOT / ATOM / ADA / MKR / DAI / LINK / DOGE / SOL / FCR / others, approximately 20-30 currencies (varies by point in time). The number of tradable currencies in the exchange format is among the largest domestically.
Overseas expansion: Limited. While the GMO financial group as a whole has overseas FX bases (Thailand, Hong Kong, UK), GMO Coin itself is based on domestic licensing.
3. History
| Year/Month | Event |
|---|---|
| 2016-10-21 | Established as Z.com Coin Co., Ltd. (a GMO Internet subsidiary) |
| 2017-04-01 | The amended Payment Services Act came into force (the registration system for crypto-asset exchange business began) |
| 2017-05-26 | Registered as a crypto-asset exchange operator (Director-General of the Kanto Local Finance Bureau 第 00006 号) ── one of the 1 earliest registrations in the industry |
| 2017-09-13 | Changed its trade name to “GMO Coin” |
| 2018-01-26 | Coincheck NEM outflow incident (approximately 580 億円) ── intensive inspections / regulatory tightening by the FSA across the entire industry |
| 2018-03 | FSA business improvement order (deficiencies in internal control systems, industry-wide disposition) |
| 2018 latter half | Improvement of internal control systems / strengthening of compliance |
| 2019-05 | Amendment of the Payment Services Act / amendment of the FIEA (crypto-asset derivatives → FIEA, tightening of leverage regulation) |
| 2020-04 | Leverage ratio for individuals from 4 x → 2 x (accompanying the FIEA amendment) |
| 2022 onward | Expansion of tradable currencies under JVCEA self-regulation (DOT / ATOM / ADA / SOL, etc.) |
| 2023～2024 | Consideration of entry into the NFT / Web3 field (the direction of the GMO group as a whole) |
| 2024 | ”Strengthening of crypto-assets / Web3 ” stated explicitly in the parent company GMO FHD’s medium-term management plan |
GMO financial ecosystem linkage
- GMO Payment Gateway (payment processing) → potential for expansion into corporate crypto-asset payments
- GMO Click Securities (online securities / FX) → a customer cross-sell base
- GMO Aozora Net Bank (online bank) → deposit / withdrawal flow line
- GMO Internet itself (infrastructure / cybersecurity) → an exchange security foundation
Competitive positioning
| Competitor | Parent company | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| bitflyer | Independent | Largest domestically; investment from majors such as mufg; bitFlyer Lightning |
| Coincheck | monex-group | Number of tradable currencies; NFT market; US SPAC listing plan |
| SBI VC Trade | sbi-hd | SBI Securities cross-sell; XRP (Ripple partnership) |
| DMM Bitcoin | DMM.com | Leveraged trading; number of tradable currencies |
| bitbank | Independent | Liquidity of the exchange order book |
| bittrade | Huobi lineage → domestic capital | Former Huobi Japan |
GMO Coin’s differentiation: ① Director-General of the Kanto Local Finance Bureau 第 00006 号 (the credibility of being the most senior), ② early entry into leveraged trading in the industry / a main revenue source, ③ the infrastructure / KYC / customer-support base of the GMO financial group, ④ continued expansion of the number of tradable currencies.
Web3 / DeFi expansion
- A history of stablecoin (GYEN / ZUSD) issuance at GMO Trust (a US subsidiary)
- Division of functions with GMO Web3 (the GMO Internet Group’s Web3 subsidiary)
- Entry into the Web3 field, such as the NFT market, is more cautious than competitors (Coincheck NFT, etc.)
5. Regulation / policy
- Jurisdiction: FSA / Kanto Local Finance Bureau
- Registration: Crypto-asset exchange operator (Payment Services Act Article 63 -2) / Director-General of the Kanto Local Finance Bureau 第 00006 号
- Self-regulation: JVCEA (Japan Virtual and Crypto assets Exchange Association) Type 1 member ── tradable-currency screening / unified AML/KYC standards
- Derivatives: FIEA Type 1 Financial Instruments Business (crypto-asset derivatives trading; since the 2019-05 amendment)
- Policy topics from 2024:
- Stablecoin regime (amended Payment Services Act, in force 2023-06 ) → GMO has advance know-how via its US subsidiary
- Tax system: crypto-asset gains/losses taxed as miscellaneous income under progressive taxation → request for a shift to separate self-assessment taxation (common across the industry)
- Taxation on year-end fair-value valuation of crypto-assets held by corporations → amendment in progress
- Speeding up of JVCEA tradable-currency screening (a common industry issue)
Related
- gmo-fhd · gmo-payment-gateway · gmo-aozora-net
- bitflyer · bittrade · monex-group · sbi-hd
- mufg · smfg · mizuho-fg
Sources
- Wikipedia: GMO コイン（https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMOコイン, 2026-05-19 extracted）
- FSA list of registered crypto-asset exchange operators (Director-General of the Kanto Local Finance Bureau 第 00006 号)
- JVCEA member list (Type 1 members)
- GMO Financial Holdings (7177) IR public materials
- GMO Internet Group (9449) IR public materials
[!info] 検証状況 confidence: likely (public information only, based on Wikipedia + FSA registration + JVCEA public materials, 2026-05-19 verified). The number of tradable currencies / details of the organizational structure vary, so the latest figures should be checked against the GMO Coin official site / GMO FHD IR. The business continuity of the US subsidiary GMO Trust (GYEN / ZUSD) requires separate confirmation.