Yuzo Kano

Representative Director & CEO

After completing his graduate studies at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Engineering, Mr. Kano worked at Goldman Sachs before co-founding bitFlyer, Inc. in 2014. Since the founding of bitFlyer, Mr. Kano has not only been devoted to the public discussion on regulatory reforms and the establishment of self-regulatory rules in Japan, but has also been contributing to the development of the crypto asset exchange industry from a global perspective, having served as CEO of bitFlyer USA, Inc. and Chairman of bitFlyer EUROPE S.A., both crypto asset exchanges. He was one of the founders of the self-regulatory organization Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (now Japan Virtual and Crypto Assets Exchange Association: JVCEA), established in 2018 and took part as industry expert in the Executive Committee for the Basic Plan for the Advancement of Public and Private Sector Data Utilization organized by the Cabinet Secretariat.

Mr. Kano currently holds the roles of Representative Director & CEO of bitFlyer Holdings, Inc., Representative Director of bitFlyer, Inc., Representative Director of bitFlyer Blockchain, Director of bitFlyer USA, Inc. and Director of Custodiem, Inc. and is serving as Chairman of the Japan Blockchain Association (JBA).

Beyond that, Mr. Kano is a member of the ISO/TC307 Domestic Deliberative Committee and an opinion leader for the Ministry of Defense. He has been actively involved in various activities for the development of the web3 industry to realize bitFlyer's mission since the company's founding: "Simplify the world with blockchain.”