The LSE Directory / Crypto exchanges
Coincheck is a Tokyo based cryptocurrency exchange run by Coincheck, Inc., offering retail spot trading in Bitcoin, Ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies. The platform runs two parallel venues: a simplified buy or sell interface with a minimum order of 500 yen aimed at first time users, and a separate professional exchange with zero trading fees on Bitcoin. Beyond spot trading it offers a crypto lending program, a block trading desk for large orders, an NFT marketplace, a staking service in beta, and a feature that lets customers pay Japanese utility bills in Bitcoin. Coincheck is registered with Japan's Kanto Finance Bureau (registration number 00014) and is a member of the Japan Virtual and Crypto assets Exchange Association (JVCEA). Coincheck competes in Japan's crowded, yen denominated retail exchange market primarily on brand recognition, distribution and custody credibility rather than breadth of token listings. Its mobile app has ranked first in Japan for crypto trading app downloads every year from 2019 through 2025, according to company and Monex Group reporting, reflecting heavy retail advertising and a simplified onboarding flow. That retail position was rebuilt, not inherited: after a 2018 security breach the exchange overhauled its custody and compliance posture around cold wallet storage, two factor authentication, third party security audits and stricter KYC, a defensive stance distinct from exchanges that compete mainly on fee rebates or exotic token access. The operating company traces to 2012, when Koichiro Wada and Yusuke Otsuka incorporated it in Tokyo as ResuPress, Inc.; it launched the Coincheck exchange brand in August 2014. In January 2018 attackers stole roughly 500 million NEM tokens, then worth about 530 million dollars, from Coincheck's hot wallet in one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts on record; the company reimbursed all 260,000 affected users from its own capital. In April 2018 Coincheck was acquired by Monex Group, the listed Japanese online brokerage, for 3.6 billion yen. In December 2024 its intermediate holding company, Coincheck Group N.V., incorporated in the Netherlands, completed a de-SPAC merger with Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV and began trading on the Nasdaq Global Market under ticker CNCK at an initial implied market capitalization of about 1.3 billion dollars, making it the first Japanese crypto exchange operator to list in the United States; Monex Group retained roughly 80 percent ownership after the listing, with Monex founder Oki Matsumoto serving as the combined company's executive chairman. Coincheck states it serves more than two million users in Japan. In January 2026 Coincheck Group agreed to acquire approximately 97 percent of 3iQ Corp., a Canadian digital asset manager, from Monex Group in a stock for stock transaction that valued 3iQ at about 111.8 million dollars and set Coincheck Group shares at 4.00 dollars each for the exchange, with equivalent terms offered to 3iQ's minority shareholders. The acquisition closed on February 28, 2026, leaving Coincheck Group with roughly 99.8 percent of 3iQ and extending the group beyond Japanese retail trading into institutional digital asset management.
