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Japanese internet giant Recruit Holdings makes strategic investment in Blockstack

Quick Take

  • Recruit Holdings, the $50 billion Japanese internet giant behind Glassdoor and Indeed, has made a strategic investment in Blockstack PBC
  • The deal enables Blockstack PBC to leverage the business relationships and expertise of Recruit as it prepares to enter the Asian markets

Blockstack PBC, the firm behind the Blockstack computing network and app ecosystem, has received a strategic investment from Recruit Holdings, the $50 billion Japanese tech giant. Recruit Holdings is purchasing Blockstack's STACK tokens as part of the deal. The investment opens Blockstack PBC up to expanding into the Japanese markets and comes shortly after Blockstack PBC announced its first round of strategic investments from Asian investors including Hashkey Group and SNZ. 

"We plan to reach Japanese developers through Recruit's help, and introduce our developer libraries and technology to them. We already have a Japanese version of our whitepaper that accompanied the announcement in Japan," Blockstack PBC CEO and Co-founder Muneeb Ali tells The Block.

According to Ali, U.S. startups typically partner with Japanese firms when entering the market. This enables the startups to leverage the business relationships and expertise of the local firms. As to why Blockstack PBC choose Asia as its next market, Ali tells us that "Asia is arguably the largest market for crypto," adding that "Japan is a very interesting market for crypto because it has clarity around regulations. It is legal to own and trade crypto assets, but only those whitelisted by the regulators."

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In July, Blockstack PBC conducted the first token offering approved by the SEC, carrying out a $28M digital token offering under Regulation A+.

Recruit Holdings has been an active player in the U.S. and blockchain markets. Two of the firm's largest U.S. acquisitions include Indeed for $1 billion in 2012 and Glassdoor for $1.2 billion in 2018. Earlier this year, Recruit Holdings also announced the launch of a $25 million blockchain fund to invest in blockchain and cryptocurrency projects.


© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

Steven Zheng is a researcher for The Block. He joined The Block in August 2018. Steven graduated from St. John’s University with a degree in economics. Previously, he covered blockchain and crypto at Radicle, a startup analytics firm. He also had brief stints at Cheddar, a media startup, and Bowery Capital, a venture capital firm. He owns bitcoin. Follow Steven on Twitter at: @Dogetoshi

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