Coincheck Group N.V. Ordinary Shares

Cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck announced on August 27 that it has completed registration as an electronic payment instruments trading business under the Payment Services Act. This makes it the second registered business in Japan, following SBI VC Trade. Coincheck plans to handle USDC, a US dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle, with the specific start date for handling yet to be determined. The electronic payment instruments trading business is a system established under the revised Payment Services Act that took effect in June 2023, and this registration is necessary to conduct the intermediary and management of stablecoins as a business.

Coincheck Group is positioning its business around institutional crypto infrastructure, execution and asset management as regulatory developments in Japan broaden access to digital assets, CEO Pascal St-Jean said during a KeyBanc discussion. St-Jean said the company's next phase involves reaching end users through institutional partners including banks, asset managers, exchanges and wealth managers, shifting from a retail focus. He cited Japan's 18-month regulatory roadmap that could expand institutional access, including a shift from the Payments Act to the Exchange Act, potential access to trust structures enabling ETFs and mutual funds, and tax reform moving crypto taxation toward capital-gains treatment. CFO Jason Sandberg noted that adjusted trading revenue fell to about 64% of revenue in the most recent quarter from 75% previously, reflecting a full quarter of asset-management and additional staking revenue, which the company views as more recurring and resilient. Coincheck Group is licensed or has capabilities in eight jurisdictions and is spinning out infrastructure capabilities including custody and staking to address institutional needs in Japan.

At a roundtable held on July 23 by the corporate Web3 business community N.Avenue club, participants discussed the financial infrastructure challenges for realizing agentic commerce, where AI agents autonomously purchase goods and make payments. Jesse Guild of Mastercard Asia Pacific noted that in a world where AIs conduct micropayments with each other via APIs, a new payment foundation is needed, and a trust layer covering spending limits and identity verification is essential. Shuhei Sawamura of Coincheck expressed the view that credit cards will play the leading role when AI acts on behalf of humans, while stablecoins will dominate in direct AI-to-AI transactions, and he shared that the company is developing guardrails such as spending caps and approval flows. Naofumi Ikeda of Stripe Japan positioned AI agents as new customers and explained that the company is advancing the Agentic Commerce Protocol co-developed with OpenAI and building wallets for AI agents. In the discussion, the question of liability when AI commits fraud emerged as a major point of debate, and participants agreed that designing trust mechanisms for delegating spending authority to AI will be key.

Mercari has announced its consolidated results for the fiscal year ending June 2026. Trading revenue at subsidiary Melcoin's crypto asset business came to 1.573 billion yen, down from 1.705 billion yen the previous year. Meanwhile, the number of crypto asset trading accounts reached 4 million as of March 31, 2026, representing roughly 30% of the approximately 14.44 million accounts nationwide according to JVCEA statistics. On the service front, a tie-up with Coincheck began on June 8, 2026, enabling trading of a total of 12 tokens, including Shiba Inu and Dogecoin, within the Mercari app. For the fiscal year ending June 2027, the company aims to further expand the lineup of supported tokens and improve trading convenience through partnerships.

Monex Group announced on August 5 the establishment of the Monex On-Chain Finance Research Institute, which will advance research and social implementation of on-chain finance. The institute will investigate regulations and technology trends in various countries and examine services and business models suited to Japan's legal system and market environment. It plans to provide end-to-end support for financial institutions and startups, from service design to commercialization and social implementation. Key research themes include on-chain financial infrastructure and the legal frameworks necessary for social implementation, the creation and distribution of tokenized assets and real-world assets, and the utilization of stablecoins. Masamichi Matsushima of Monex Group has been appointed head of the institute, and the planned members will consist of personnel from Monex Group, Monex Securities, Coincheck, Monex Asset Management, and Next Finance Tech.

Canadian digital asset manager 3iQ has been appointed to manage the Bitcoin reserves of the Gelephu Mindfulness City, a special administrative region in southern Bhutan. Up to 10,000 Bitcoin have been allocated to GMC by December 2025, and this partnership is part of the strategic utilization of those assets. 3iQ is a subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed Coincheck Group, and in addition to management, it will also promote local talent development, technology transfer, and establish a presence there. Meanwhile, the Bhutanese government's crypto holdings have declined from a peak of 13,000 BTC to approximately 1,750 BTC.

At a panel session during IVS2026 CRYPTO ZONE, Michihiko Kasai, President of au Coincheck Digital Assets, Yuki Jinguji, Deputy Head of PayPay's Financial Strategy Division, and Jinyoung Lee, Japan Business Leader at LINE NEXT, discussed whether wallets could become the next-generation super app. Kasai noted that the role of wallets is expanding from storage to real-world use, and their importance will grow with the spread of AI agents. Jinguji said that through the partnership between PayPay and Binance Japan, they aim to create a simple experience that alleviates concerns about crypto assets, emphasizing the balance of risk management. Lee outlined a vision to drive adoption in everyday payments centered on the LINE wallet Unifi and the Japanese yen stablecoin JPYC. Regarding competition with overseas platforms, the three agreed that designing a sense of security and local experiences tailored to Japanese users will be key.