Japan's Monex Group acquiring majority stake in Canadian crypto firm 3iQ

by RT Watson

Deals • December 28, 2023, 1:23PM EST

Published 1 minute earlier on

The Block

Quick Take

Monex Group is acquiring a majority stake in 3iG Digital Holdings.
The Japan-based company “plans to leverage 3iQ’s crypto-asset related product creation capabilities to maximize synergies among its group companies.”

Japan-based Monex Group, which runs an online brokerage, cryptocurrency exchange, and asset management business, said Thursday that it plans to acquire a majority stake in Canadian crypto asset firm 3iQ Digital Holdings.

"Our long term strategy is to strengthen our asset management business, and by welcoming 3iQ to our group, we aim to achieve high growth by capturing the crypto asset management needs of institutional investors and crypto asset exchanges around the world, which are expected to grow in the future, " Monex Group CEO Yuko Seimei said in a statement.

Monex Group acquired the crypto exchange Coincheck in 2018, building up its digital asset investment business. After "investments in governance, internal controls, and security, it registered as a crypto asset exchange service provider in Japan," according to a Monex Group statement.

Monex also owns U.S.-based online brokerage service firm TradeStation.

Monex to leverate 3iG innovation

Although 3iG experienced a high volume of outflows earlier this year, Monex appears to have confidence in the firm's ability to innovate. "3iQ recently unveiled a groundbreaking development, the industry's first-ever comprehensive suite of crypto hedge fund managed accounts," Monex said, adding it "plans to leverage 3iQ's crypto-asset related product creation capabilities to maximize synergies among its group companies."

Frederick T. Pye, chairman and CEO of 3iQ, said it will be collaborating with Coincheck and its 1.8 million customer accounts.

While Japan lags behind Hong Kong and Singapore in terms of developing a local digital asset market, the nation's crypto industry experienced some gains this year, including efforts to provide more guidelines and regulation. In June, Japan revised the Payment Services Act to establish stablecoin-related regulations. Additionally, Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, partnered with the securities and banking giant SBI Holdings in November in the hope of expanding its presence in Japan.

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About Author

RT Watson is a senior reporter at The Block who covers a wide array of topics including U.S.-based companies, blockchain gaming and NFTs. Formerly covered entertainment at The Wall Street Journal, where he wrote about Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. and the creator economy while focusing primarily on technological disruption across media. Previous to that he covered corporate, economic and political news in Brazil while at Bloomberg. RT has interviewed a diverse cast of characters including CEOs, media moguls, top influencers, politicians, blue-collar workers, drug traffickers and convicted criminals. Holds a master's degree in Digital Sociology.