The AI Möbius Strip and Japan's Path Forward: Simplex's Kaneko Discusses Strategies for the Web3 Era at WebX 2026

On July 13, 2026, at the Binance stage of WebX 2026, Hidetaka Kaneko, President and CEO of Simplex Corporation, delivered a keynote speech. Drawing from over 35 years of experience, including his time in financial engineering on Wall Street in 1991, the birth of Japan's unique FX market, the establishment of regulations for cryptocurrencies, and the "Möbius strip" problem brought about by generative AI, he discussed how Japan can make its mark in the Web3 era.

Kaneko entered the financial world in 1991, leading a trading system development team at Solomon Brothers, where Warren Buffett served as interim chairman, utilizing derivatives and financial engineering. At that time, Wall Street was seeing an influx of physicists and mathematicians, laying the groundwork for a completely new financial system.

"At that time, Wall Street was buzzing with a sense that something incredibly new was about to happen, something innovative."

Driven by the desire to recreate that excitement in Japan, he founded Simplex in 1997. Since then, about 70% of their revenue has come from financial institutions, and Kaneko stated that they have witnessed the birth of various markets as a "silent supporter".

Entering the 2000s, the internet transformed finance, giving rise to a new class of individual investors, particularly young working households, through online brokerage services. However, these investors had limited capital and naturally gravitated towards leveraged FX trading. By around 2005, the individual FX market expanded rapidly, growing to a scale where "Mrs. Watanabe" was said to influence global currency markets.

"While online brokerages were supported by global trends, the FX market was nurtured by Japan's unique needs, and before we knew it, it had become a major market recognized worldwide. In other words, Japan can create markets."

Note: Japan's individual trading volume in foreign exchange margin trading (FX) surged in the late 2000s, at one point becoming the largest in the world. The term "Mrs. Watanabe" became an international nickname for Japanese individual investors, particularly carry traders who sell yen and buy high-yield currencies.

Regarding cryptocurrencies, Japan took the lead in establishing regulations and creating a safe trading environment. However, the world approached from a different angle, positioning Bitcoin as "digital gold" and enabling institutional investment through ETFs in Canada and the United States. Kaneko pointed out that this difference attracted money to the Japanese market that was many times greater.

Currently, another structural problem Japan faces is the "Möbius strip" created by generative AI. When companies promote AI natives and pay usage fees, that money circulates through AI companies, data centers, GPUs, and clouds, returning larger than before. However, all the players constituting that circle—Anthropic, OpenAI, NVIDIA, Amazon AWS, Microsoft, Google—are American companies.

"The problem is that we are on the outside of that circle."

Note: The "Möbius strip" Kaneko referred to describes a structure where payments for AI usage fees circulate through the layers of AI, cloud, and semiconductors, self-replicating corporate value and capital. He highlighted the issue that no matter how much Japanese companies advance AI utilization, the fruits of that labor continue to circulate within the American companies' circle.

So, how can we penetrate from the "outside" to the inside? One of the answers Kaneko points to is Web3. Unlike the world of AI, the Möbius strip has not yet formed in Web3. Japan has stablecoins backed by trust, such as JPYC for small payments, JPYSC for large payments, and the Japanese yen itself. In the context of RWA (tokenization of real-world assets), Japan possesses a wealth of content assets that resonate globally, including anime, characters, and traditional arts.

In conclusion, Kaneko reflected that there has always been "enthusiasm" at every stage, from the birth of financial engineering to the rise of the internet and the growth of Japan's FX market, and he emphasized that the presence of enthusiastic players is essential in the Web3 era.

"Those in positions to create policies should kindly support such enthusiastic players and foster a society that allows for that. We, too, hope to create a new Möbius strip that can carry us through the next 30 years together."

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