Zaif exchange profile: Japanese spot trading, funding holds and automated plans

Zaif is a Japan-focused custodial exchange offering quoted purchases and sales alongside an order book, recurring purchases, automated strategies and staking. These services use different charging and execution models. The useful comparison is between the specific route chosen and its transfer or account restrictions, rather than treating every service as the same zero-fee exchange transaction.[1]

The December 2025 market-order FAQ names BTC/JPY, ETH/JPY, XEM/JPY and XYM/JPY, including app access. Its guard cancels the entire order when depth is insufficient or the required execution moves outside the stated five-percent reference range. That is a rejection rule, not guaranteed execution at the last price. Filled market orders cannot be amended or cancelled, and the guide says market-order API access was still under consideration.[9]

Easy trading embeds approximately 0.1–8% in quotations despite its zero separate commission; the stated range can be exceeded during market stress. A JPY100,000 execution at 0.1% costs JPY100.[7]

The tariff’s maintenance charges concern incomplete checks: unverified balances below JPY10,000 incur JPY200 monthly, otherwise 10%; missing required information incurs JPY250 monthly, capped by available assets. These are not presented as ordinary trading-inactivity fees.[7]

The Otegaru FAQ describes no separate automation subscription charge and says instructions normally seek maker treatment. It nevertheless allows taker commission when markets move quickly. A repeated strategy can therefore incur trading costs even when the automation feature itself is described as free.[11]

The August 2026 bank-deposit guide requires the account-specific numerical reference alongside the customer’s name. A missing or incorrect reference can require manual support reconciliation. The same guide lists bank transfer, convenience-store payment, Pay-easy and the designated Zaif Card; this is not general acceptance of every credit card.[14]

Matching bank deposits are credited according to the receiving bank’s processing. The August timing guide describes near-real-time handling for the specified docomo SBI Sumishin Net Bank route, including outside ordinary hours, while other unmatched or out-of-hours transfers can take longer. Contact support when a matching transfer remains missing after one bank business day, retaining the payment evidence.[15]

These are dated published rules, not a test of a particular account’s current release time. The Pay-easy guide separately confirms that its one-week restriction cannot be waived. An immediately credited payment can therefore be tradable while part of the resulting balance remains unavailable for withdrawal.[16]

JPY withdrawal registration requires the bank details, a seven-digit account number, the name in the specified format and two-factor confirmation. The guide asks for the desired net receipt and accounts for the fee separately. Check both the receiving amount and the total deduction before submitting the request.[18]

The timing guide uses a 23:59 cutoff and describes processing on the following or second following bank business day. It warns that status can lag arrival and that incorrect details can lead to returned funds. This older estimate is useful for the workflow but is not a guaranteed deadline.[19]

The overseas-bank FAQ confines this withdrawal route to Japanese financial institutions. Eligibility for a platform account therefore does not imply that an overseas bank account can receive the yen balance. Confirm a compatible own-name bank account before depositing funds intended for later fiat withdrawal.[20]

Crypto withdrawals require a matching supported chain and, where applicable, a destination tag. The August guide identifies Polygon for POL and Kaia for BORA/KAIA rather than assuming all tokens use Ethereum. ZPG, ZPGAG and ZPGPT do not support external deposits or withdrawals. Low selected Bitcoin fees can delay delivery substantially; changing the tag after submission is not a recovery method.[21]

Address registration collects recipient ownership, wallet or exchange type, country, name and transfer purpose, with two-factor authentication. A saved blockchain address does not replace those recipient checks. Changes to registered customer information can themselves need review before a transfer proceeds.[22]

MONA needs a specific qualification. The inspected 4 August notice suspends its deposits and withdrawals after a network block-production halt, with no reopening date on that page. Trading and other listed services remain described as available. Do not infer that the MONA transfer route is open merely because its market remains visible.[29]

The pre-contract document places customer yen with SBI Clearing Trust. It describes at least 95% of customer crypto by yen value in cold storage, individual records and multi-person approval for cold-wallet movements. For the hot portion, it describes separate company-held crypto of matching kind and quantity as a performance guarantee. These arrangements are not a verified per-customer insurance payout limit.[8]

The October 2026 security FAQ requires two-factor authentication for login, withdrawals and API-key administration. Its emergency account-lock link is single-use and valid for twenty-four hours; locking logs sessions out and support must handle unlocking. Account locking is distinct from cancelling a trade that has already executed.[23]

Authenticator recovery requires the registered email, password and SMS-capable number, with a fifteen-minute verification code. The July recovery guide routes a changed or unavailable verified phone number through support. Its timing diagram was not inspected, so no universal recovery waiting period is asserted here.[24]

Individuals must be at least eighteen and younger than eighty; applicants aged seventy-five to seventy-nine can face a telephone interview. The standards exclude EEA and US residents, US citizens and green-card holders, plus other designated locations. They also require the ability to use the account and make decisions independently. Corporate applicants must be incorporated in Japan and provide the required representative, controller and beneficial-owner information.[5]

New individual onboarding changed on 13 October 2026. The 15 October notice says driving-licence verification ended and applicants now use the My Number card’s IC chip through JPKI. A compatible NFC-capable device is consequently part of the practical onboarding requirement. Already verified customers are not required by that notice to repeat verification.[6]

Delisting is a separate account risk. The August terms provide for advance notice, a sell-or-withdraw period and possible conversion of remaining holdings into yen at the obtainable price, potentially zero. Maintaining an account does not guarantee indefinite support for every asset or an unlimited opportunity to move it after support ends.[4]

The request form accepts submissions around the clock and lists weekday handling from 10:00 to 17:30 for the Japanese service. This describes the support window, not a promised response time for every case. Include the relevant asset, order or transfer identifier and the time of the problem so the investigation can distinguish access failure from an unsettled transaction.[25]

The pre-contract document does not accept dealing instructions by email, telephone or support request. Complaints can use the support route; the document also identifies JVCEA at 03-3222-1061 and Tokyo bar-association dispute-resolution channels. A complaint or outage report is therefore not a substitute market order.[8]

A recent incident shows why the affected service matters. Zaif reported delayed XYM deposits on 19 October following a Symbol network finalisation problem. Its 20 October update at 11:02 says normal deposit processing resumed; trading, withdrawals and staking were described as unaffected. That resolution should not be extended to the separate MONA suspension.[28]

The FSA’s register dated 30 September 2026 lists 株式会社Ｚａｉｆ under Kinki Finance Bureau registration 00001, initially registered on 29 September 2017. This is a crypto-asset exchange registration, not an assurance of an asset’s value or a universal permission for unrelated products.[3]

Zaif’s current company page identifies 株式会社Ｚａｉｆ, incorporated on 12 April 2016, and names JN Group as shareholder. It gives a Tokyo operating address and capital of JPY52,945,000 as of 8 October 2025. These current disclosures should not be replaced with a former operator or parent taken from an older profile.[2]

The FSA entry uses an Osaka registered address, whereas the company page gives its Tokyo operating location; those descriptions concern different address scopes.[3][2]

The inspected current service and company material did not establish a comparable active-user count or current daily trading volume. The profile therefore treats Zaif as a distinct established Japanese service without inventing a numerical scale ranking from dated or differently defined marketing totals.[1]

Operator

株式会社Ｚａｉｆ (Zaif Inc.)

Exchange model

Centralised

Service scope

Japan-focused quoted dealing, spot order book, recurring purchases and automated strategies.

Client types

Retail clients; Institutional clients

Pricing publication

Public and quoted pricing

Pricing scope

Order-book commission, embedded quote costs and separate plan charges.

Funding scope

JPY domestic-bank and specified payment routes; crypto transfers vary by asset.

Custody and asset handling

JPY trust and company-described cold/hot crypto separation.

Client eligibility

Individual age and residence restrictions; new onboarding requires My Number card verification.

Support

Written support, formal complaints and specified external escalation.

Authorisation and registration scope

FSA register lists the operator under Kinki Finance Bureau registration 00001.

Exchange metadata checked 20 Oct 2026Source 1Source 2Source 3Source 5Source 6Source 7Source 8Source 14Source 25

Coin Reserve accepts JPY1,000 increments up to JPY1 million monthly, with a lower JPY100,000 card cap. Purchases span the tenth through the next ninth, with crediting following the purchase day. Changing or stopping funding has a deadline, and insufficient funding can skip a cycle without deleting the plan. A JPY10,000 allocation carries JPY250 service charge, before payment-route charges.[12]

Reserve payment adds JPY100 for bank debit or 3.5% of allocation plus service charge for Zaif Card.[7]

Otegaru starts from JPY500 and repeats its chosen buy/sell conditions until stopped. Deleting a setting does not itself liquidate the resulting holdings, and changing the strategy requires replacement of the setting. Its lack of an automatic loss-cut means a holding can remain exposed while waiting for the selected price. Cancelling a particular order and ending the ongoing strategy need to be considered separately.[10]

The automation FAQ requires browser access to configure Otegaru; the mobile app does not provide that setup. Ranking Trade reuses popular settings, updated normally each Monday, while existing strategies continue on their existing instructions. It is not evidence of discretionary management or an AI trader. Deleting the associated API key can stop execution; reinstatement requires a key with trading permission.[11]

The security guide warns that API keys may trade or withdraw without an interactive two-factor challenge. Restrict permissions and authorised IP addresses and remove unused keys. Its supported-device guidance names Windows 11/macOS 14 and iOS 17/Android 13; mobile onboarding additionally needs compatible NFC. Reinstalling the app does not erase the account balance, but neither that fact nor browser access establishes synchronised chart layouts.[23]

This means a service advertised without a separate staking fee still pays less than the full protocol reward, and an eligible balance alone does not complete the monthly claim. The reviewed displayed rates lacked a clear year label, so no supposedly current annual return is reproduced.[13]

Annual CSV reports cover calendar years from 2018 and use a total-average calculation basis. A moving-average calculation instead requires the underlying trade history. Historical report headings include discontinued services; their presence in an export does not prove those products remain tradable. Reconcile deposits, withdrawals and charges before treating the file as a complete tax calculation.[26]

The separate history guide provides service-specific CSV downloads in a password-protected archive with year selection. Preserve the transaction-level files alongside the annual summary, especially when checking automated orders or an asset that later changes trading status.[27]

The ETH Reserve campaign’s entry window ended on 14 October 2026. Its advertised reward required six months of qualifying purchases, with distribution planned for May 2027; reductions, failed funding or early termination could remove eligibility. This was conditional future ETH value, not an immediately withdrawable cash bonus available to a new entrant on the profile’s check date.[30]