6 Questions for Kei Oda: From Goldman Sachs to cryptocurrency

Published

2 years ago

September 11, 2023

admin

Kei Oda is the head of Japan and the Asia-Pacific region for Quantstamp, a Web3 security firm that audits smart contracts and develops blockchain security solutions.

Kei spent 16 years trading bonds at Goldman Sachs before stumbling into cryptocurrencies out of boredom. He tells Magazine he was induced by the ability to trade Bitcoin and other assets around the clock.

He has since fallen down the rabbit hole, even finding a job in the industry.

1. How did you get involved in crypto?

So, I was actually a bond trader for 16 years before joining crypto.

You know, we used to talk about Bitcoin when I was still trading bonds. I didn’t really understand it or believe in it, to be honest, but when I left my job in 2016 and tried to get into the startup space, what dawned on me once I left was that, having been a trader, you do have a long-term focus, but you also are very, very short-term in terms of how you trade, what you do day to day, minute to minute, and what ended up happening was, I would get bored very easily.

Essentially, my attention span became like a goldfish, and that was what working in finance kind of did to me. And so, I started trading Bitcoin.

Initially, it was simply to pass the time. And then, once I started researching Bitcoin, obviously, I thought the value proposition was extremely compelling.

And as part of that journey, I of course fell down the rabbit hole and started looking at crypto in general and specific assets like Ethereum, and it just sounded like a crazy, crazy proposition. You know, if it succeeds, obviously we’re talking about something that could be game-changing.

2. What do you think of the current Japanese crypto ecosystem?

I think that Japan has a pretty vibrant ecosystem, especially right now. It’s taken a while, but if you look at the trajectory of what Japan has gone through as a whole (the Mt.Gox and CoinCheck hacks, etc.), it has become very progressive.

In one sense, you know, allowing Bitcoin to be kind of used as currency, not obviously as an official currency or government currency, but it is an accepted payment method, and it’s actually legal to use it.

I think another kind of sector that seems to be quite exciting, at least for Japanese financial firms, is security tokens. I think that’s something that people are looking at. Security tokens globally — I don’t really hear that much about, [but] there are quite a few companies looking at them here in Japan.

3. What has held the Japanese crypto scene back?

I think at the bottom of it all is taxation. Taxation is still not very friendly here in Japan.

What the old regulation used to be is that if your Japanese startup issued a token here in Japan and you sold half of it to Japanese investors or the Japanese community, then you would have to pay tax on the revenue that you realized by selling tokens. But you would also have to pay tax on the 50% that you hadn’t sold.

It’s even worse for personal taxes. In Japan, profits on crypto trading are taxed as extra-ordinary income, which can be as much as 55%. It’s not super friendly.

Now, if you compare that to Singapore, the basic tax rate is much, much lower at around 20% or something. Hong Kong, I think, is something similar. Dubai obviously has zero income tax. So, you’re talking about a pretty big difference financially for startup founders and entrepreneurs.

4. Do you think more companies will start setting up in Japan instead of opting for other Asian hubs?

The Japanese government is trying to be very progressive and forward-thinking about Web3.

They’re trying to be very active in getting talent to stay in Japan and also to come to Japan.

For example, the government is planning digital nomad visas. And I think that is going to be great for people who earn in other currencies and come to Japan, just because the yen has become so much more attractive (weakening against the United States dollar).

Japan is also attractive because there is a big market here, and there is a big market size that startups can capture here.

The Japanese crypto scene is quite active. However, what I find is that, when you go to a Japanese meet-up, there is a long presentation that you have to sit through. And at the end, they give you five to 10 minutes to try and network.

But you know — excuse my language — it’s kind of a shitshow.

So, what I did was help to create an event [Tokyo Blockchain Night] where there’s no presentation — no one’s trying to sell anything.

It’s simply like-minded people being able to have a drink and talk about crypto and look for investors, engineers, etc., or just make friends.

I think it’s something that helps people and goes along with the whole kind of ethos we have at Quantstamp, which is that we help people and pay it forward, and hopefully, something comes back to us.

6. How did contagion from collapses like FTX impact the Japanese market?

The way FTX essentially blew up is kind of interesting in that FTX had a Japanese subsidiary; they bought a Japanese exchange called Liquid.

And because the regulations around asset custody in Japan were much stricter, FTX Japan wasn’t able to commingle funds or anything like that. So, actually, the Japanese entity was fully liquid and solvent. To the point where, if you were a Japanese customer of FTX, you essentially either have or will get all of your money back.

Whereas if you’re a client of FTX International, I don’t know what the update is there, but it’s not looking that promising.

I think the Japanese regulations that came in after the CoinCheck hack were probably much more strict than other jurisdictions; however, as a result of that, we’re now seeing an uptick in Japanese activity, to the point where the MUFG, the world’s biggest banking conglomerate in Japan, is going to launch stablecoins.

Brian Quarmby

Brian Quarmby discovered crypto in 2013 and instantly fell in love with the idea of decentralization. Brian has since lived and worked Asia and returned to Melbourne in late 2019. Brian is a lover of sport and art and is bullish on the potential for NFTs to transform artists lives in the near future.

Politics

UK ‘ready to spend well over £100m’ on possible deployment of British troops to Ukraine

Published

3 hours ago

October 21, 2025

admin

UK 'ready to spend well over £100m' on possible deployment of British troops to Ukraine

The UK is ready to spend “well over” £100m on a possible deployment of British forces to Ukraine if Donald Trump secures a peace deal with Russia, the defence secretary has said.

John Healey also said Vladimir Putin views Britain as his “number one enemy” because of the country’s support for Ukraine.

The defence secretary’s plan includes the preparation of military personnel to join a multinational force that would be sent to help secure Ukraine’s borders if the US president brokers a ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv.

He signalled British troops could be ready to deploy as soon as that happened and he said this could include soldiers on the ground.

Some of the anticipated money to prepare for any mission is already being spent.

The defence secretary also warned of a “new era of threat” and said the risk of wider conflict in Europe has not been as great since the end of the Second World War.

Mr Healey used a lecture at Mansion House in London to talk about efforts led by the UK and France to build a “coalition of the willing” of more than 30 nations to form what he called a “Multinational Force Ukraine” over the past six months.

This force would help to secure Ukraine’s skies and seas and train its troops if Russia agrees to halt its full-scale war.

“So, as President Trump leads the push for peace here in Europe, we are ready to lead the work to secure it in the long-term,” the defence secretary said.

“For our Armed Forces, I am already reviewing readiness levels and accelerating millions of pounds of funding to prepare for any possible deployment into Ukraine.”

Asked how much money, he said it would be “well over” £100m.

Mr Healey trumpeted the UK’s support for Ukraine, including a record £4.5bn in assistance this year, and taking over from the United States in co-chairing a wider group of nations that have been sending weapons and money to Kyiv.

“This is why President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy calls the UK his closest ally,” he said.

“This is why Putin ranks Britain as his number one enemy.”

But he warned that as Russia’s aggression grew in Ukraine and beyond its borders, “Britain and our NATO allies stand more unified, and stronger”.

Giving a stark verdict of the security landscape, Mr Healey said: “This is – undeniably – a new era of threat. The world is more unstable, more uncertain, more dangerous. Not since the end of the Second World War has Europe’s security been at such risk of state-on-state conflict.”

He said this required what he described as “a new era for defence”.

He said: “This is now an age for hard power, strong alliances and sure diplomacy.”

The defence secretary said plans for the new era would include increasing defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035 – though critics have accused the UK and other European allies of playing smoke and mirrors with the target, questioning how much will really be spent on weapons and troops.

“As I look ahead to the rest of this decade, our task, in this new age of hard power is to secure peace in our continent and to forge stronger deterrence and resilience, a New Deal for European security,” said Mr Healey.

Turning to the Middle East, he also announced the UK was sending a two-star military officer to work as the deputy to the US commander, charged with monitoring the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Politics

Govt to allow early release of thousands of rapists and violent criminals, Tories claim in sentencing row

Published

3 hours ago

October 21, 2025

admin

Govt to allow early release of thousands of rapists and violent criminals, Tories claim in sentencing row

The government will allow thousands of rapists, child sex offenders and other violent criminals to be released early from prison, the Conservatives claimed as a row over sentencing law reforms erupted.

Ahead of MPs debating the Sentencing Bill, introduced to tackle the growing prison population, on Tuesday, the Tories accused Labour of favouring criminals over victims and said the government’s approach is a “betrayal of victims”.

But Labour accused the Conservative Party of “rank hypocrisy” over prison overcrowding and the previous government’s early release policies.

The bill will restrict the use of short sentences and instead strengthen community punishments.

It will also include an “earned progression scheme”, which allows convicts who demonstrate good behaviour to be freed earlier, with enhanced supervision in the community followed by an unsupervised period on licence.

There will be a minimum release point of 33% for standard determinate sentences and a 50% minimum for more serious standard determinate sentences – as well as more tagging to monitor offenders in the community.

The Tories claim the bill as it is would mean 85% (6,500) of the most serious jailed offenders could qualify for early release because they are serving standard sentences, while more than 83% of child sex offenders and 62% of convicted rapists would serve reduced sentences.

They have tabled an amendment to the bill to ensure a carve out for the most serious crimes, so those who commit assault by penetration, rape, grievous bodily harm, stalking and sexual offences against children cannot be released early.

Under Labour plans to abolish custodial sentences below 12 months, the Tories calculated up to 43,000 offenders could avoid jail altogether.

They said the bill could lead to permanent leniency in sentencing.

Conservative shadow justice minister Dr Kieran Mullan said: “Labour’s early release plan is a betrayal of victims and a gift to rapists and paedophiles. Keir Starmer is putting criminals before communities and letting predators out early.

“Under Labour’s plans, thousands of the most serious and sickening offences imaginable would no longer be treated as such. What an insult to thousands of victims across the country.

“Anyone who vote for these plans will have to explain exactly why these crimes do not count among the most serious offences.

“The Conservatives will fight this moral rot every step of the way.”

But sentencing minister Jake Richards accused the Tories of “rank hypocrisy” as he said the previous government took prisons to “breaking point”.

He said Labour are “cleaning up the mess” left by the Tories and accused them of “feigned outrage”.

“The Conservatives’ rank hypocrisy is shameful. They built this crisis, then feigned outrage when the consequences arrived,” he added.

“They took our prisons to breaking point, released thousands of serious offenders early and pushed Britain to the brink of a situation where police could no longer make arrests and courts could no longer prosecute.

“That would have been a total collapse of law and order.

“Now they attack us for cleaning up the mess they made. They are behaving like arsonists complaining the fire service couldn’t stop the flame.

“This Labour government believes in prison and in punishment that cuts crime.

“We’re delivering the biggest prison expansion since the Victorians, reforming sentencing to keep the public safe and building a justice system worthy of the name.”

Politics

Canadian province to ban new crypto mining connections

Published

3 hours ago

October 21, 2025

admin

Canadian province to ban new crypto mining connections

British Columbia is moving to ban new crypto mining connections to protect its Hydro power grid. For years, analysts have argued this is the wrong approach.