DMM, a major entertainment conglomerate in Japan, which also operates a widely utilized e-commerce platform used by more than 27 million active members, will launch a cryptocurrency exchange this month.

Seven Cryptocurrencies, Accepting Applications on January 11

DMM Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency exchange of the entertainment giant, will begin accepting applications from local traders and investors as early as January 11, after the exchange officially launches on January 10.

Given that DMM Bitcoin is a financial institution regulated by Japan's Financial Service Agency (FSA), it is required to implement strict Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policies and systems. As such, similar to other exchanges in the Japanese cryptocurrency market, DMM Bitcoin will likely carry out a rigorous verification process for traders, especially for large-scale and high profile individual investors.

The official statement released by DMM obtained by Bitcoin.com read:

"DMM Bitcoin will launch a new service site for virtual currency trading on January 10, 2018, and we plan to start accepting account opening applications on January 11. There are 7 virtual currencies that can be traded, 3 currency pairs for spot trading and 14 currency pairs for leveraged transactions."

Upon its launch, DMM Bitcoin will only support seven hand-picked cryptocurrencies in bitcoin, Ethereum, NEM, Ripple, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, and Bitcoin Cash. While the method the company utilized to come up with the list of the abovementioned seven cryptocurrencies remains unclear, DMM Bitcoin has only added cryptocurrencies with strong markets, user bases, and daily trading volumes.

Competition Against GMO and Huobi Japan / SBI

Last year, GMO Group, a multi-billion dollar internet company based in Japan, launched a cryptocurrency exchange of its own, listing five digital assets, with a $90 million budget. In contrast to the funding rounds other major brokerages and trading platforms in the global market like Coinbase has received, the initial capital of GMO Group was relatively small.

But, over time, GMO Group expanded its cryptocurrency venture, launching a bitcoin mining center and mining equipment manufacturing factory to produce ASIC mining chips.