Nikkei Asian Review from Tokyo reported this morning that popular Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck is introducing interest-bearing accounts to bitcoin holders. One of the larger domestic exchanges in Japan, Coincheck will be the first to offer any type of interest-paying fixed term deposit account on the leading digital currency.
Coincheck, which is headquartered in Tokyo will offer four plans for BTC depositors:
- 14 days at 1% annual interest rate
- 30 days at 2% annual interest rate
- 90 days at 3% annual interest rate
- Annually at 5% interest rate
An example from the shown rates would mean a client looking to deposit 10 bitcoin ($16,864 USD at present) for 90 days would earn roughly $125 USD or 0.07412 BTC. It breaks down to about 0.0082% per day.
This should be attractive to bitcoin holders and give the incentive to keep their coins in savings or at least part of them. It could also mean the attraction of international flow of bitcoin to the exchange.
The Financial Services Agency of Japan has been working on new bitcoin exchange regulation set to debut this year, requiring more rigorous checkups and capital requirements. According to Nikkei, Coincheck’s deposit service is exempt from traditional banking regulations with recent revisions to fund settlement law, as bitcoin is not legal tender. Just recently, however, new regulations passed in the country recognized bitcoin as an official form of payment.