BTCBOX

BtcBox Co., Ltd. was established in Japan on March 6, 2014, by founder David Zhang with capital of 5 million yen. The company says the founder had been a victim of the Mt. GoxMt. GoxMt. Gox was an early bitcoin exchange based in Tokyo, Japan. Jed McCaleb turned it into a bitcoin trading site in 2010 and Mark Karpelès took it over in 2011, after which it became for a time the world’s largest bitcoin trading platform. In February 2014 it halted withdrawals and shut its website, saying about 850,000 bitcoins were missing, and it then went through a civil rehabilitation application, bankruptcy, and civil rehabilitation proceedings at the Tokyo District Court; the trustee has been repaying creditors in bitcoin and bitcoin cash since July 2024, and as of October 2026 the repayment deadline had been extended to October 31, 2027.Open the full entry bitcoin theft and wanted to build a Japanese trading platform that prioritized security.⁠[1][2][3]

In April 2014, the BTCBOX exchange launched, initially handling bitcoin (BTC) and litecoin (LTC); in July 2015 its monthly bitcoin trading volume exceeded 500,000 BTC, and in February 2016 the company launched a bitcoin lending service.⁠[2]

On February 20, 2017, Merchant Bankers, a company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, announced a basic capital and business alliance agreement with BTCBOX in the crypto field, planning to acquire about 14.8% of BTCBOX’s shares by the end of March 2017 for an initial investment of about 200 million yen and to consider further investment depending on business progress; BTCBOX’s capital at the time was 85.08 million yen.⁠[1]

On March 6, 2017, Merchant Bankers announced preparations to open a crypto exchange in Hong Kong to be operated by BTCBOX; on March 14 it decided to pay for the 14.8% BTCBOX stake through a third-party allotment of treasury shares, valuing the shares at 200 million yen, with a share agreement planned for signing on March 30. Available sources do not confirm whether the share transfer was completed.⁠[4][5]

Japan’s amended Payment Services Act took effect in April 2017, opening registration applications. In August 2017, BTCBOX was among the first in Japan to begin trading bitcoin cash (BCH).⁠[2]

On September 29, 2017, BTCBOX was registered as a crypto-asset exchange operator under Kanto Local Finance Bureau Director No. 00008, one of the first 11 registered exchange operators in Japan, and began operating as a registered operator that month. It added ether (ETH) trading in November 2017 and moved to a new office in Kayabacho, Tokyo, in December.⁠[6][3][2]

On February 1, 2018, the Kanto Local Finance Bureau ordered BTCBOX under the Payment Services Act to report on its system risk management, and the Financial Services Agency began an on-site inspection on April 18. On June 22, 2018, the bureau found governance problems, including power concentrated in the representative director and a board that was not fully performing its role, as well as deficiencies in system risk management, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing, and measures against antisocial forces, and issued a business improvement order under Article 63-16 of the act. BTCBOX was one of six exchange operators to receive such an order that day.⁠[7][8][9]

The order required improvements in nine areas, including governance, system risk, AML/CFT, segregation of customer assets, user protection, complaint handling, customer information security and risk management for newly handled crypto assets, with a written improvement plan due by July 23, 2018, and monthly progress reports.⁠[7]

In October 2018, David Zhang established TTXHoldings and became its representative director. In March 2019, David Zhang transferred all of his BTCBOX shares to TTXHoldings, which became BTCBOX’s wholly owning parent. In May 2019, BTCBOX completed a 200 million yen capital increase subscribed by its parent and changed presidents, with David Zhang becoming chairman; in June the parent subscribed to a further 300 million yen capital increase.⁠[2]

BTCBOX introduced instant deposits in February 2020, online identity verification (eKYC) in April 2020 and a simple buy-sell (dealer) service in October 2020, followed by a regular purchase service in September 2021; it added dogecoin (DOGE), polkadot (DOT) and tron (TRX) in April, June and July 2022, respectively.⁠[2]

On January 15, 2026, BTCBOX confirmed an information-management incident: documents it had shared with an external party in preparation for a business tie-up became viewable by third parties as a result of the partner’s handling, and the documents that could have been viewed contained personal information of 39 customers, including names, phone numbers and email addresses.⁠[9]

On January 28, BTCBOX announced that it would suspend all services for 12 hours from midnight on January 29 for system maintenance; on January 30 it said additional checks were needed and extended the maintenance indefinitely. On February 5, it disclosed the incident and said it had received a report order from the Kanto Local Finance Bureau under Article 63-15, Paragraph 1 of the Payment Services Act.⁠[9][10][11]

On July 31, 2026, BTCBOX announced a phased resumption of services following a review by an outside expert organization: login and crypto-asset deposits would resume on August 3 with mandatory passkey authentication for login, and yen withdrawals on August 10 with mandatory two-step verification, while crypto-asset withdrawals, the exchange and the simple buy-sell service would resume progressively from September once safety checks were complete. The company said no unauthorized outflow of or damage to customer assets had been confirmed.⁠[12][13]

At 10 a.m. on August 3, 2026, BTCBOX restored login and crypto-asset deposits, partially lifting a full suspension of about six months that had begun on January 29.⁠[9]

In October 2026, Hong Kong crypto payments company RedotPay announced that it had acquired BTCBOX and planned to provide services compliant with Japanese law to customers in Japan through it, offering financial, technical and other support as its parent company. The timing, price and stake were not disclosed, and as of October 24 BTCBOX’s website and blog had published no related notice.⁠[14][15]

BTCBOX is headquartered in Nihonbashi Kayabacho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, has capital of 2,227.04 million yen including capital reserves, is member No. 1008 of the Japan Virtual and Crypto assets Exchange Association (JVCEA) and a member of the Japan Payment Service Association, and retains Anderson Mori & Tomotsune as legal counsel. In April 2025, the BTCBOX exchange marked ten years of service.⁠[2][6]

BTCBOX: Official website: https://www.btcbox.co.jp/ (opens in a new window)⁠[12]

X: Official account: https://x.com/BtcBox_Co_Ltd (opens in a new window)⁠[12]

RedotPay: Official website: https://www.redotpay.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[14]