Investing.om - The CEO of Japan's third-largest online broker says the cryptocurrency market of today is very much like the early days of derivatives in the 1980s--controversial, complicated and misunderstood.
Oki Matsumoto of Monex Group, which recently acquired the Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck, says regulators disliked derivatives soon after their launch but later came around to embrace them.
Matsumoto, who worked in derivatives on Wall Street in the late 80s, is naturally bullish on digital currencies, saying "they can provide a lot of value."
Monex's $34 million acquisition of Coincheck is seen as another major step in Japan's embrace of cryptocurrencies. Some three dozen exchanges already operate there. Bitcoin became legal tender in Japan a year ago and is now accepted as payment at some of the nation's' biggest retail chains.