Sony Group Acquires Japanese Crypto Exchange Amber Japan

Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation Sony Group has entered the crypto space with its latest acquisition of Amber Japan, a crypto exchange and the Japanese subsidiary of the global Amber Group. This purchase marks an expansion from Sony’s electronics and information technology products to a digital asset trading venture.

Valued at over $100 billion, Sony now has businesses that cut across games, music, cameras, electronics, movie production, and cryptocurrency trading. The decision to enter the Japanese market is strategic as the country continues positioning itself as an emerging web3 hub.

Sony to Compete in the Japanese Crypto Space

Colin Wu, an Asian news reporter first reported the development on X (formerly Twitter). According to him, Amber Japan, previously known as DeCurret, was purchased by the Singapore-based Amber Group in 2022.

However, following the collapse of FTX in the same year, Amber Group was hit with a major financial crisis which prompted the company to enter into a debt-to-equity transaction with Fenbushi Capital. Amber Group went on to close a staggering $300 million Series C funding round in June 2023.

Notably, Amber Group investors comprise some notable names including Coinbase, Sequoia China, Temasek, Tiger, and Pantera. Sony’s shift into the digital currency space in Japan leverages its strong market position, consequently, it will be competing in the field with other major cryptocurrency exchanges including Binance, Bybit, BitFlyer, Huobi, and OKX.

Sony’s Web3 Journey

Interestingly, this is not the first time the tech giant is venturing into the web3 space. Recall that in March 2023, Sony entered into the Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) market by filing a patent for an NFT framework. The patent was for digital asset usage and transfer between gaming platforms. With this, players can securely and easily trade cryptocurrencies across several gaming platforms, boosting cryptocurrency impact in the gaming industry.

The Japanese web3 space has gotten major traction over the past month. On June 28, Coinfomania reported that Alibaba Cloud, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, collaborated with Aptos Foundation to launch Alcove, to improve the web3 ecosystem in Japan. The debut of Sony in the web3 space in Japan marks a significant milestone and is expected to advance and boost credibility in the landscape.