JAPAN plans to become the Bitcoin capital of the world as the Asian country continues to welcome cryptocurrency investment despite several high profile hacking attacks, according to investment experts.
Last month Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck announced it would have to pay back more than £300m to customers after their system was hacked, affecting 260,000 customers.The attack, described as the biggest digital currency theft in history, was the most high profile case in several hacks to affect Japanese cryptocurrency firms.
However, unlike their neighbours China and South Korea who are clamping down on the use of online money, the risks have not deterred Japan from their mission to be the first country to widely use cryptocurrencies as legal tender.
Takashi Shiono, an economist at Credit Suisse in Tokyo, said: “There are estimates that tax revenue from the cryptocurrency business, including capital gains taxes from individual investors and from corporations, could amount to 1 trillion yen (US$9.2 billion), though that is very speculative at this stage.”The Japanese economy has suffered from decades of stagnation since the start of the 1990s, dealt with a massive national debt and with the problems of a shrinking population and tax base.
The Tokyo Government is hoping the capitalise on the growth in interest for cryptocurrencies as their opportunity to improve the Japanese economy.
Source/More: Bitcoin news: Japan’s SECRET billion dollar plan for cryptocurrency price BOOM | City & Business | Finance | Express.co.uk
