Coincheck announces acquisition of Metaps Alpha

Coincheck, a bitcoin wallet and exchange service headquartered in Tokyo, announced that it has acquired all shares of Metaps Alpha Co., Ltd., a a blockchain firm that has been offering an on-chain NFT (non-fungible token) marketplace called miime since September 2019, and made it a subsidiary.

According to the press release by Coincheck, in August 2020, the company announced that it would leverage its capabilities to begin providing a marketplace for trading NFTs (non-fungible tokens). The exchange also outlined the scalability issues in the expansion of the NFT marketplace related to the transaction processing on the Ethereum blockchain.

To circumvent these issues as well as make NFT transactions easier, Coincheck is working on the development of an off-chain NFT marketplace that does not have a gas fee.

The official announcement stated: "With the increase in demand for Ethereum last year and the emergence of scalability problems, a number of different products are being promoted in countries around the world. Against this backdrop, Coincheck decided to provide both an off-chain and on-chain NFT marketplace. As part of this effort, Coincheck has decided to acquire Metaps Alpha Inc., a company that has been offering an on-chain NFT marketplace called miime since September 2019, and make it into a subsidiary."