Masayuki Shimura

After graduating from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tokyo, he joined Mitsui Bank in 1982. Originally with a strong overseas orientation, he was transferred to Singapore in 1996, and in 2010 was assigned to Singapore for the second time as Executive Officer and Head of Asia/Oceania Division of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. In 2015, he was promoted to Senior Managing Executive Officer and returned to Tokyo. At that time, the crypto assets and blockchain field became one of his areas of responsibility, which led to him becoming interested in bitFlyer, which was already establishing itself as the largest player in the crypto asset exchange industry. In 2017, he was transferred to Sumitomo Mitsui Card's Senior Managing Executive Officer, but in 2019, when he reached his 60th birthday, he thought, ``This is the era of 100-year lifespans. From now on, I would like to take control of my own life rather than resting comfortably in a large organization.'' With a few years left until retirement, he left Sumitomo Mitsui Card and established Shimura & Partners Co., Ltd. Immediately after that, he met Yuzo Kano, the founder of bitFlyer, and in March 2020, he became a director and an audit and supervisory committee member of bitFlyer Holdings, Inc. and bitFlyer, Inc. He also serves as an outside director and advisor for several startup companies, including BASE Inc. and HashPort Inc.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, he became interested in workcations and living in two locations, and acquired a villa at the southern foot of Mt. Yatsugatake. Since then, he has been going to his villa almost every weekend, and his greatest joy is tending to the garden surrounded by larch trees and planting flowers.

My motto is "Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young" (Henry Ford)