Arbitrum Foundation has entered a partnership with protocol studio Fracton Ventures to launch Arbitrum Japan. This is in a bid to boost Arbitrum’s presence in the country.
According to a statement, the partnership with an undisclosed funding will also promote ecosystem development and community education programs, according to a statement. Arbitrum is a layer 2 network that allows developers to seamlessly build on the Ethereum network.
Its expansion to Japan is part of the foundation’s strategy to reach regions with untapped potential.
“We feel there is huge untapped potential within the Japanese region,” Arbitrum Foundation Head of Ecosystem Development Nina Rong said in the statement. “In our collaboration with Fracton Ventures, we feel we are uniquely positioned to reach a new demographic of developers, innovators and blockchain-curious consumers that haven’t previously been exposed to the benefits of blockchain technology.”
The partnership will leverage Fracton Ventures’ network of experts, investors, and developers who co-create the future of Web3 as contributors rather than just supporters. Based in Japan, the company’s familiarity with the country’s regulatory demands will also make it easier for Arbitrum to fit in.
“When the opportunity presented itself to grow Arbitrum in Japan, we felt strongly that we would be the best partner to help bring the vision of Arbitrum Japan to life,” Fracton Ventures Head of Partnerships Siddharth Pillai added. “Our region is ripe for innovation within the blockchain sector, but hasn’t yet had the exposure to leading technology and developer tools – now, with Arbitrum Japan, they will have the opportunity to fully harness the power of blockchain.”
Promoting the Growth of Arbitrum
The partnership will achieve two major things, namely business building and ecosystem development. Primarily, it aims to promote the growth of Arbitrum in the Japanese market and foster business development through working collaborations between web2 and web3 companies in the country.
In addition to this, Arbitrum Japan plans to expand technical educational content via AMA sessions and hackathons. The statement further added that University ambassadors and community managers will also lead activities to boost Arbitrum’s adoption.
Arbitrum is currently the dominant Ethereum Layer 2 scaling network, with $5.9 billion (55%) of TVL across Layer 2 chains. The expansion to Japan is likely to further enhance the growth of the project, further strengthening its dominance over other Ethereum Layer 2 networks.
Japan’s Crypto-Friendliness
Japan has become a major crypto hub, attracting major crypto projects recently. Leading crypto exchange Binance recently opened its Japan branch, Binance Japan, and is in the process of launching a stablecoin backed by the Japanese Yen and other fiat currencies, and now Arbitrum is launching there.
This is owed to the friendliness of the government towards crypto. The Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida recently admitted the potential of web3 to transform the internet and contribute to social change.
Japan’s National Tax Agency in June also exempted crypto issuers from paying capital gains taxes of around 35% on unrealized gains, in order to promote the growth of the crypto industry. This makes the country exceptionally attractive to crypto projects like Arbitrum.
“We have received a lot of interest from both Japanese enterprises and individual developers about Arbitrum technology,” Rong said. “We would like to better serve these clients with local resources on the ground. It was thrilling to see the Japanese government release a web3 whitepaper recommending to boost the crypto industry in the county,” she added.
