Naoto Hida

In 2004, Mr. Hida started his career at Vodafone (acquired by Softbank in 2006) as an IT engineer. In the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, he transferred to the president's office of Softbank, where he took part in the establishment of a new renewable energy business company. In addition to the renewable energy business, Mr. Hida also established the Japan Renewable Energy Council with local governments across Japan, and in his function as secretary, focused on lobbying activities such as policy advocacy and contributed to the setting of related rules.

In 2017, Mr. Hida got fascinated by the innovation of Bitcoin and started sharing information on X (formerly known as Twitter). Believing in the future of blockchain and crypto assets, he went on to join bitFlyer in 2019. Since joining the company, he has taken over a wide range of responsibilities including the president's office, PR activities, external relations, and business strategy. In parallel, he is also serving as the secretary of the Japan Blockchain Association (JBA), where he is working to promote and expand the crypto asset and the web3 industry.