All eyes on Japan in 2018

[Clauston]

That was long but it is worth reading it.
I get excited with some parts of it and somehow made me smile too.

NEM could really be a big hit when it comes to Japanese support, actually it can be seen how much it grew in value.

It might be litecoin that will be offered to them because of its proof that it is tested and can handle a lot of transactions.

This will be a great 2018 not only for Japan but for the whole world.

I have read this in other places and the truth also I think that for the whole world 2018 will be a year of change, Japan is opening much more to the digital age. We accept it?

[bribed]

Interesting read. Im also invested in both coins because I think that they have a lot of potential and as Japan is very cryptofriendly I think they have an additional accelerator from this.
Ive also invested in Mona some time ago. But to be honest the performance of it wasnt really a pleasure to watch so far. It seemed more of a p&d than a organic growth. Now the coin is valued again at about the same level as I bought it. Well, I will just keep holding and watch where this is going.

[Kubra Dam]

You can advocate Japan, or you can oppose, but there is one reality here is that Japan is the coutry which supports blockchain and bitcoin adoption in a mass scale at its best. We really thank Japanese government for this, anyway.

[ArnoldChippy]

You can advocate Japan, or you can oppose, but there is one reality here is that Japan is the coutry which supports blockchain and bitcoin adoption in a mass scale at its best. We really thank Japanese government for this, anyway.

No doubt  about this that japan given a very good support to  bitcoin in its early stage and that is the reason that now we can see that people are more interested in bitcoin, we can hope that in future more countries will follow Japan and will make bitcoin as legal currency in their country to be use for buying selling things. Actually online currency is now the need of the new generation and we have to accept the fact about it.

[Drunkenhorse]

That's some very exciting news, I was not so much aware of Japanese market and bitcoin future there.

[dimonstration]

You can advocate Japan, or you can oppose, but there is one reality here is that Japan is the coutry which supports blockchain and bitcoin adoption in a mass scale at its best. We really thank Japanese government for this, anyway.

No doubt  about this that japan given a very good support to  bitcoin in its early stage and that is the reason that now we can see that people are more interested in bitcoin, we can hope that in future more countries will follow Japan and will make bitcoin as legal currency in their country to be use for buying selling things. Actually online currency is now the need of the new generation and we have to accept the fact about it.

Japan as one of the country that are been taking a lot of good things  to be and they take the advantages of some technologies so no worry and been surprise on it cause this is what they wanted to have for.

[realsteve]

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This paper presents the situation of the cryptocurrency market at the end of 2017 and the challenges that the crypto community still faces. Thanks to its crypto friendly legal framework, Japan should be the country to watch in 2018. The currently high transaction fees of Bitcoin offers an opportunity for Japanese crypto assets to become the preferred payment method on the island and maybe in the world.
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Looking back, 2017 was a fantastic year for the crypto world. Investors enjoyed 20 fold returns on Bitcoin (BTC), 100 for Ether (ETH), 60 for Litecoin (LTC) and so on. It was hard to lose money in dollar terms.

This exceptional performance is the consequence of years of hard work from developers, exchanges, lobbyists, authors, etc. to make Bitcoin and the likes more known and accessible to the world.
The crypto market is becoming mainstream: institutional and retail investors are now together in this new asset class. The more, the merrier one could say.

Indeed, the influx of new joiners came at a benefit: the skyrocketing rise in value of crypto assets.

But it came at a cost too: Congested blockchains, rising transaction costs, crashing exchanges, etc.

While cryptocurrencies made a name for themselves this year, a lot must be done so that they leave their nascent state and become mature payment methods.

The time is now to scale.

On December 13, Vitalik Buterin, the Founder of Ethereum, challenged his followers on Twitter:

•   “So total cryptocoin market cap just hit $0.5T today. But have we *earned* it?”
•   “How many unbanked people have we banked?”
•   “How much actual usage of micropayment channels is there actually in reality?”

Without a real use case in the daily life of people, 99% of cryptocurrencies and tokens will be remembered as a funny investment that turned out to be a mirage.

Bitcoin is here to stay.

It has the first mover advantage, the biggest network, fair incentives and its scarcity makes it the true digital gold. It’s the benchmark of all crypto assets. For these reasons, Bitcoin will survive and at least act as a store of value.

However, Bitcoin was also designed to be a medium of exchange but it is now too slow and too expensive to use. Being the first mover also has its flaws. Bitcoin blocks are 1 Megabyte big and occur every 10 minutes. That is not enough to cope with the thousands of new transactions happening every minute. Bitcoin miners include the transactions with the highest fees attached in the blocks.
This is how Bitcoin is no longer viable as a medium of exchange for small transactions.

It may be temporary though.

The introduction of the Lightning Networks (LN) solution to the Bitcoin network will make Bitcoin great again.
But when will that happen?
Will the community tear itself apart as it did when the Segregated Witness (Segwit) solution was launched this summer? Nobody knows. There may well be another 12 to 18 months of developments and hiccups along the way.

So what will happen in the meantime?

Now that millions of people have become aware of cryptocurrencies and that the Bitcoin blockchain is in limbo, there is an immense opportunity for an altcoin to become the preferred coin for transactions.

Let’s remember that the value of a coin mostly depends on the size of its network. The more people use it, the higher its value.
Also, the number of merchants accepting Bitcoin vs credit cards is still low worldwide. A successful altcoin could in no time take over Bitcoin as the preferred coin by merchants.

Therefore, this is no surprise that the Bitcoin cash (BCH) supporters are so vocal in the media. BCH offers lower transaction costs thanks to its 8 Megabytes block size. It could thus fill the gap.
Litecoin (LTC) is another contender. It’s a clone of Bitcoin with larger and more frequent blocks. It has Segwit too.

In the end, the users will decide which coin they endorse.

But the legal framework plays an important role here.
In most countries, the legal status of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies is still unclear. Why would merchants accept cryptocurrencies that are uneasy to apprehend and that the government can ban overnight?

Japan gave cryptocurrencies legal tender status in April. This is a massive step for a rapid adoption by Japanese people and merchants.
Which coins are they likely to endorse for payments?

BCH? LTC? Probably not. These coins are known in Japan but probably lack the support of the local crypto communities.

And Japan has its own altcoins: NEM and MONA. They are very different in design.

NEM is similar to Ether as it enables the creation of NEM powered blockchains and smart contracts. There are 9 billion tokens that were premined. Transactions are validated by nodes, based on a Proof of Importance method.

MONA is a fork of LTC with more frequent blocks. It is popular with gamers and is even accepted by IT stores. Coins are mined by the traditional Proof of Work method.

Both coins enjoy strong local support and can be purchased directly against Fiat on the Japanese exchanges.

This is why Japanese altcoins shall be monitored closely in 2018.

Their adoption by local merchants shall be facilitated thanks to the clear legal framework for cryptocurrencies in Japan and the work of their communities.

Should they become widely adopted in Japan, the network effect could make them very popular in other parts of the world.

Calangaman
Published on Bitcointalk on 27 Dec 2017

Long but full of information! Thanks buddy. As what we are expecting in Japan, Japan will innovate more the usage of cryptocurrency. Japan altcoin has the potential to move forward. Nem and MONA are different in bitcoin or ethereum. They will solve the current problem about transaction fees and slow speed of transaction.
I think 2018 will be the great age of cryptocurrency and because Japan will enter the cryptocurrency, many countries will now pull out to join crypto world. I hope this will be a great start to us and somehow, all crypto enthusiast will become successful.
2018 will be the opening year of cryptocurrency, Japan will lead to the innovation and more efficiently altcoin.

Going strictly with my gut, I think you are correct here. Factoring the ability of governments to squash it makes adoption tricky, however, it has survived this long and survived well. It may become a bad investment but I think it will carry on as a legitimate currency.

[elie_s]

This is very good news hope it will happen

[Calangaman]

That's some very exciting news, I was not so much aware of Japanese market and bitcoin future there.

Japanese Yen is regularly the number 1 currency for worldwide crypto volumes.

[raypinch]

Japan always see the future in the right way , I am sure other counties are watching closely how it will develop there too. If everythings works out like it was planned, they might repeat their experience.

[ToxaBit]

Japan is a very progressive country in terms of economics and computer innovations. I think that bitcoin is waiting for a very promising future, as well as the rest of the market for crypto currency.

[mahibul49]

japan is another big giant country who supoort bitcoin and i can say japan will support trading always bcz trading improved their GDP LAST YEAR.
if japan support another crypto it will be big for that crypto.

[peter0425]

Japan is a very progressive country in terms of economics and computer innovations. I think that bitcoin is waiting for a very promising future, as well as the rest of the market for crypto currency.

The Japanese is really the innovators of technology. The have embrace bitcoin so much that they are now the at the forefront of this technology. It's really a positive vibes when they enter the market last year and they are the one who are really pushing bitcoin's price and recognition globally.

So they are really the nation to look upon in terms in bitcoin and crypto's. They already set a precedence. As 2018 usher a new era, a lot of nation will decide its own direction as far as crypto's. And they can draw inspirations on how the Japanese government adopted bitcoin. There are countries that will put a hammer ban on bitcoin but I'm sorry that they will be left out when the crypto exploded again this year.

[eaLiTy]

A girl told me ince , that in 2018 I must keep on eye on the asian market cause things will go nuts there in the good way. Also I have read that north koreea and Japan are buying more and more bitcoin and cryptos. Is this true ? Can be true ?

If you look in the past couple of years all the major volumes are from the Asian markets,earlier China dominated but now Korea and Japan are dominating the vast majority and with the news that came out recently that the Koreans are planning to ban exchanges all together it will be interesting to see how things end up,when the Chinese markets were closed Japan and Korea stepped up,it is an interesting year .

[Oceat]

A girl told me ince , that in 2018 I must keep on eye on the asian market cause things will go nuts there in the good way. Also I have read that north koreea and Japan are buying more and more bitcoin and cryptos. Is this true ? Can be true ?

If you look in the past couple of years all the major volumes are from the Asian markets,earlier China dominated but now Korea and Japan are dominating the vast majority and with the news that came out recently that the Koreans are planning to ban exchanges all together it will be interesting to see how things end up,when the Chinese markets were closed Japan and Korea stepped up,it is an interesting year .

It was happening before since Asia is big continent so there's no surprise that Asian will adopt cryptocurrency as the whole world starting to realized their worth and Japanese people are good at managing their economy that's why so much hardworking people in Japan helps to improve their own country. If people will learn and manage to cope on how Japanese people do it, they might help their country to grow fast.

Japan is one of a good example of a hard-working country.

[WNbahr]

yes it is true, japan became bitcoin and crypto referrals for other countries, with this advancement will trigger bitcoin development all over the world, this is very good for the progress of digital economy of the future.

[djhoangwar]

have you looked at cardano?

Yes, ADA and XEM have similiarities. These are blockchain protocols. I find them harder to value than pure cryptos like MONA.

ADA is NOT Japan coin

[zarados]

***************************************************************************************************************
This paper presents the situation of the cryptocurrency market at the end of 2017 and the challenges that the crypto community still faces. Thanks to its crypto friendly legal framework, Japan should be the country to watch in 2018. The currently high transaction fees of Bitcoin offers an opportunity for Japanese crypto assets to become the preferred payment method on the island and maybe in the world.
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It is true that Japan cannot be doubted in the field of technology, even the creator of bitcoin when viewed from his nickname, it is a name derived from Japan country  . The possibility of Japan will take an active role in addressing the biggest issues of bitcoin today, namely very high transaction fee and very slow transactions. Although altcoin originating from Japan should be a concern this year, but remember, that they also have their own company. I believe that Japan wants this technology to impact the whole world, not only benefit the country alone.

[Calangaman]

Whale coming on MONA !

Buy order for 76 BTC on Bittrex !

[Calangaman]

Japanese translation:

2018年は日本に大注目

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本稿では、2017年末の仮想通貨（暗号通貨）市場の状況と、仮想通貨コミュニティが直面している課題について説明します。仮想通貨に優しい法的枠組みのおかげで、2018年は日本が注目すべき国となっています。ビットコインの現在の高い取引手数料は日本の仮想通貨資産に新しい機会を与えるとともに、日本の、また、世界の新しい支払い方法になると予想されます。
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振り返れば、2017年は仮想通貨（暗号通貨）の世界にとって素晴らしい年でした。  投資家はビットコイン（BTC）で20倍、イーサー（ETH）では100倍、ライトコイン（LTC）では60倍の利益を得ました。ドル換算で考えると、お金を失うことは非常に難しい一年でした。


この異例の業績は、ビットコインがよりよく世界に知られるよう、開発者、取引所、ロビイスト、作者などからの長年の努力による成果です。機関投資家と個人投資家がこの新しい資産クラスに一緒になることで、仮想通貨の市場は主流になりつつあります。つまり「多ければ多いほどよい」という訳です。

確かに、新しい加入者の流入は、仮想通貨資産の価値の急上昇に大きく影響しました。

しかしそのせいで、混雑したブロックチェーン、取引コストの高騰、取引時のクラッシュなどの問題も起きました。

今年は仮想通貨が名を上げましたが、新生状態を乗り越え、成熟した決済方法になるためには、多くのことが行われなければなりません。

勿論、これらを達成するには時間がかかります。

12月13日、イーサリアム（Ethereum）の創始者であるVitalik Buterin（ヴィタリック・ブテリン）は、ツイッターで彼のフォロワーたちに次の様に問いかけました。
•   「仮想通貨の時価総額は今日、５千億ドルになりましたが、果たしてこれは私たちの努力の成果でしょうか？」
•   「これまで銀行口座を持っていなかった人を、何人銀行に加入する事ができたでしょうか？」
•   「実際にあるマイクロペイメントチャネルの使用状況はどれくらいでしょうか？」

人々の日常生活の中で実際に使用することがなければ、仮想通貨とトークンの99％は面白い投資だったと記憶されるだけで、まるで蜃気楼のようになってしまいます。

これからはビットコインの時代です。

ビットコインは現在、ファーストムーバーアドバンテージがあり、最大のネットワークを持ち、また、公正優遇とその希少性などの特性は、ビットコインを真の「デジタルゴールド」にします。まさに仮想通貨の基準です。これらの理由で、ビットコインは生き残り、少なくとも価値保存手段としての役割を果たすことでしょう。

ビットコインは交換手段となるように構成されていましたが、使用できるには時間がかかったり、価値が高かったりします。先発者ではありますが、それなりに欠陥もあります。ビットコインブロックは1メガバイトの大きさで、10分ごとに起こります。毎分、何千もの新しい取引に対処するには全く十分ではありません。ビットコインマイナー（ビットコインのマイニングを行う人や機関）にはブロック内には高額の手数料が付いた取引が含まれています。

つまり、もはやビットコインは小規模取引のための交換媒体ではないと言えます。

しかし、それは一時的な事かもしれません。

ビットコインネットワークにライティングネットワーク（Lightning Networks : LN）ソリューションを導入することで、ビットコインは再び素晴らしいものになります。 しかし、これはいつ起こるのでしょうか？

今年の夏に、分離監視（Segwit）ソリューションが開始されたときと同じように、コミュニティは分離してしまうのでしょうか。

誰にも分りません。途中でさらに12ヶ月から18ヶ月の進展と失敗を繰り返すかもしれません。

では、その間に何が起こるのでしょうか？

何百万人もの人々が仮想通貨（暗号通貨）を認識し、ビットコインブロックチェーンが中ぶらりんになっていることを知っている今、アルトコイン（Altcoin）が全ての取引においての優先コインになる大きな機会があります。

コインの価値は、主にネットワークの規模に依存することを覚えておきましょう。 より多くの人々が使用するほど、その価値は高くなります。

また、クレジットカードのかわりにビットコインを受け入れる商業者の数は、まだ世界的に少ないです。精良なアルトコインは、商業者にとって好まれるコインとして、すぐにでもビットコインを追い越すことができるでしょう。

したがって、ビットコインキャッシュ（BCH）サポーターがメディアで非常に声高であることは驚くことではありません。 ビットコインキャッシュ（BCH）は、ブロックサイズが8メガバイトであるため、取引コストを削減できます。 こうすることで、ギャップを埋めることができました。

ライトコインLitecoin（LTC）はまた別の候補です。 これはビットコインのクローンで、ブロックが大きくて頻繁です。またセグウィット（Segwit）もあります。

結局は、ユーザー自身の好みで、保証のあるコインを選択するでしょう。

しかし、法的枠組みも選択される際に重要な役割を果たします。

ほとんどの国では、ビットコイン、及び仮想通貨の法的地位は依然として不明確です。

なぜ商業者が、仕組みを理解しにくい上に政府が一晩で禁止することもありうる仮想通貨を受け入れる事があるでしょうか？

日本政府は昨年4月に仮想通貨（暗号通貨）を法定通貨として認めました。 これは、日本人や商業者による急速な採択に近づくための大きな一歩です。
さて、支払いを保証するのはどのコインでしょうか？

ビットコインキャッシュでしょうか？ ライトコインでしょうか？ 多分、どちらでもないでしょう。 これらのコインは日本では知られていますが、おそらく現地の仮想通貨コミュニティのサポートがありません。

また、日本には独自のアルトコインがあります。NEM と MONAです。

それらのデザインは非常に異なっています。 NEMは、 イーサー（Ether）に類似しているため、NEM搭載のブロックチェーンとスマートコントラクトの作成が可能です。 90億のトークンが敷かれています。 トランザクションは、重要度証明方法のノードに基づいて検証されます。

また、MONAはより頻繁なブロックを持つLTCのフォーク（子プロセス）で、 ゲーマーの間では非常に人気があり、ITストアでもすでに受け入れられています。 コインは、伝統的なプルーフ・オブ・ワーク法でマイニングされます。

双方のコインは現地で強い支持を受けていて、日本の取引所ではフィアットに対して直接購入することができます。

このため、2018年は日本のアルトコインを注意深く見守るべきです。

日本での仮想通貨の明確な法的枠組みとそのコミュニティの取り組みによって、現地商業者による採択は促進されるでしょう。

日本で広く受け入れられれば、ネットワーク効果により世界各地で大人気となることでしょう。