BitFlyer’s Co-Founder Plans to Retake His Old Position as CEO

Yuzu Kano, the Co-founder of the Japanese crypto exchange, BitFlyer, is reportedly seeking to return to his previous role as the company’s CEO. 

According to reports from Bloomberg, Kano stated that he is fighting for his previous role in order to put an end to a power struggle between current management and other shareholders of the business. 

The report also highlighted that Kano’s proposal to reclaim the CEO role and pursue an Initial Public Offering (IPO) will be presented to shareholders for deliberation in March.

Notably, Kano resigned as the CEO of BitFlyer in 2019 due to management disputes at the firm. He, however still owns 40% of the company and prior to founding BitFlyer, Kano worked as a trader at Goldman Sachs in Tokyo and New York for over a decade.

He found BitFlyer in 2014, which has since become one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan and the world. Kano is well-known for his blockchain expertise and is regarded as a key figure in the cryptocurrency industry. Meanwhile, Kano is the current CEO of a subsidiary called BitFlyer Blockchain Inc.

BitFlyer’s Trading Woes

BitFlyer was founded in the context of Bitcoin’s consistent market value of $14,000. However, the company started experiencing a downfall in its trading volume when Bitcoin lost its value towards the second half of 2019.

This decrease in trading volume exacerbated the regulatory stress that the company began to experience with the Financial Services Agency in mid-2018. The agency’s inquiry revealed that BitFlyer had weak security and compliance measures, making it vulnerable to hackers and risky for customers’ investments.

Based on the investigation, the company stopped accepting new customers in order to focus on improving its system. Consequently, the reductions in the influx of new customers and the exit of older investors led to lower sales as reported by the company.

Moving forward, ACA Group agreed to acquire a majority stake in BitFlyer valued at $370 million at the time. ACA Group said it intended to sell its BitFlyer holdings after the company’s value had increased. However, after months of deliberation, the company announced that it was no longer interested in the acquisition.

Not much information was given by ACA Group on their decision to back out from the deal. However, the decision comes after Galaxy Digital, terminated its planned acquisition of crypto manager BitGo in August.