Tokyo-based financial services firm Monex Group is taking crypto offerings under advisement with aims to bolster its competence in the Japanese brokerage market.

In the context of online brokerage in Japan, thriving among strong counterparts like Rakuten, SBI Holdings and Mastui is most likely no mean feat. Therefore, Monex revealed that its brokerage unit is seeking to utilize Coincheck, a hacked crypto exchange that the firm acquired last year, to offer individual retail clients with a one-stop-shop payment solution.

Yuko Seimei, the current president of Monex Securities, a major online securities trading subsidiary of Monex Group, regarded the strategy as integral to regain Monex’s position and influence in the brokerage sector. It is high time Monex embraced a new operational method, or else “[it] may not be able to close the gap,” Seimei asserted.

In the past year, after refund the victims of the record $532 million hacks at the beginning of 2018, Coincheck got the green light from Japan’s Financial Services Agency later on in the year to officially operate as a trading platform, according to the news publication Nikkei Asian Review. Coincheck has recently introduced a new over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency trading platform, specifically for major institutional clients.

Meanwhile, Japanese fintech giant Rakuten is reportedly preparing for the launch of its cryptocurrency exchange Rakuten Wallet later this year, after receiving a new government license for the provision of “virtual currency exchange” services.