Former bitFlyer CEO Stages Comeback to Fight on International Stage

Yuzo Kano, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Japanese exchange bitFlyer, has revealed his ambitions to take hold of the company’s reins again.

Since its inception, Japan’s largest exchange has witnessed many ups and downs. In the latest turn of events, the exchange’s co-founder decided to take charge of the exchange and lead it to an Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Last year, Kano saved the firm after the management tried to sell it to a Singapore-based firm.

Plans to Rescue Sinking Ship

The 47-year-old entrepreneur wants to eliminate turmoil at the exchange by taking charge as a CEO. He told Bloomberg, “I will make it capable of fighting on the international stage.”

After a strict regulatory environment in 2019, Kano decided to step down from his CEO position. The co-founder holds 40% of the bitFlyer equity. Kano will keep forward the proposal of him returning to the company during the next month’s shareholders’ meeting. He then plans to take the firm to an IPO and make it Japan’s first publicly traded crypto exchange.

Furthermore, Kano wants to bring back innovation to the firm as he believes bitFlyer is “producing nothing new.” 

Is Current Management Trying to Sell on the Cheap?

After Kano stepped down, multiple CEOs tried to run the company. But they quit after objections from Kano, who is the single largest shareholder. The co-founder explains, “I reprimand people when they cause problems, make false reports or fail to do whatever they are supposed to do.”

Kano also accused the current management of selling the firm cheaply to get rid of him. According to a Nikkei Asia , the Japanese exchange was in talks with the Singapore-based ACA group to sell the firm at a valuation of around $370 million.

Kano alleges that ACA approached investors with a combined majority stake to secure the deal and overthrow him from the firm. He stopped the deal from concluding by finding other potential buyers that were willing to pay more. The former CEO says, “They wanted to get rid of me, both as a shareholder and the representative of a subsidiary.”

bitFlyer is one of Japan’s largest exchanges after global players like Coinbase wrapped their operations. The exchange has three million accounts and handles most transactions in the country.

The Bank of Japan has announced plans to launch a digital yen pilot in April.

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