Unbanked, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, discontinues cryptocurrency business for gold price-linked token 'Kinka' due to profitability issues

Key Points of This Article

• Unbanked listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange faces profitability issues in its cryptocurrency business
• Kinka on Ethereum, with a claim deadline of October 30

Discontinuation of Cryptocurrency Business

Unbanked, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and engaged in the sale of gold bullion, announced on the 16th that it has resolved at its board meeting to discontinue its cryptocurrency business that issued the gold price-linked token "Kinka" and to dissolve and liquidate three consolidated subsidiaries. The companies subject to dissolution and liquidation are Kinka (BVI), Ltd., based in the British Virgin Islands, and two domestic entities: the Gold Fund, a general incorporated association, and Gold Management LLC.

Regarding the background of this decision, Unbanked explained that the "Kinka" token, which was issued in December 2022 backed by gold bullion and sold to overseas residents, had been sluggish due to the overwhelming market share of competing products and did not reach the expected sales scale. To address the sales slump, it entered into a partnership agreement with the founding company of the Cardano blockchain in September 2024 and planned to issue "Kinka" on that chain in April 2025.

However, the expected centralized overseas exchange for the USD-pegged stablecoin USDA, which was to be used for sales, is no longer anticipated, and the use of decentralized exchanges (DEXs) without a managing entity and identity verification mechanisms could potentially violate the laws of the trading counterpart's country, leading to the abandonment of the sale of "Kinka" on Cardano.

The new management team, which took office on September 30, determined that ensuring profitability if the business continued would be difficult and decided to discontinue the business and dissolve and liquidate the consolidated subsidiaries.

As part of the discontinuation process in October, the "Kinka" issued on Ethereum will have a final deadline for buyback requests and exchanges for gold bullion at 5 PM (Japan time) on October 30, and after the settlement is completed, all collected tokens will be burned (rendering the held cryptocurrency permanently unusable and reducing circulation). Additionally, the "Kinka" issued on Cardano will be burned in its entirety in October due to the lack of sales performance, and its handling will be discontinued.

Dissolution, Liquidation, and Impact on Performance

Among the companies subject to dissolution and liquidation, Kinka (BVI), Ltd. was responsible for the generation, issuance, and sale of cryptocurrency, while Gold Management LLC managed the underlying gold bullion.

The dissolution and liquidation of the three companies will proceed sequentially starting in November, with completion expected by the end of March 2027.

In terms of performance, the sales of "Kinka" have been disclosed as part of the gold bullion business, with its share being less than 0.1% of the sales of that business, which amounted to 8.043 billion yen for the fiscal year ending March 2026. Unbanked considers the impact on performance to be minimal, anticipating costs of several million yen associated with the liquidation, but states that it will promptly disclose any matters that arise in the future.

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