Payward1 run exchange Kraken is headed to Japan with plans to begin offering its service by the end of this October. Founder and CEO Jesse Powell believes Kraken has the expertise required to meet demand for a Japanese Bitcoin exchange. Kraken won't be the first exchange to launch in Japan since the collapse of MtGox with BitOcean and BtcBox having beaten them to the punch earlier this year.
As Japanese banks are taking a cautious approach to Bitcoin related businesses, Kraken experienced a longer than expected period of time negotiating for its banking services. This delay has put Kraken at a disadvantage as BitOcean and BtcBox have had more time to establish themselves but Jesse Powell believes "our experience and proven track record of competence, security, compliance and technological robustness would be great reasons to use Kraken." But the "proven track record" that Jesse Powell speaks of is not one of competency. In early 2014, the Kraken exchange began issuing users with the exact same deposit address. This resulted in over 600 bitcoin going missing and users were simply encouraged to submit a support ticket or even claim the bug bounty. Since that time, Kraken has remained a low to no volume exchange.
In a push to make up for lost time, Kraken believes assets left behind by the MtGox legacy, such as its list of customers, could be useful enough to Kraken that it might warrant a takeover of the collapsed exchange. It's unknown where the funds would come from to purchase what is now a worthless customer list.
Source – http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2014/10/20/kraken-to-launch-bitcoin-ops-in-japan-this-month/
Investors include Hummingbird Ventures, Trace Mayer and the Bitcoin Opportunity Fund. ↩