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 In their debut, the eight "Virtual Currency Girls", or Kasotsuka
Shojo in Japanese, cavorted in maid costumes with frilly skirts
and full-face professional wrestling-style masks with fuzzy
pom-pom ears, extolling the virtues of decentralized digital
currencies such as bitcoin.
"They're so convenient you kind of have to wonder why we didn't
have them before," said Rara Naruse, 18, the group's leader. "We
want everyone to learn more about them."
Each group member adopted the guise of a different
cryptocurrency, offering a brief self-introduction to 20 fans
gathered at the venue in downtown Tokyo.
Then they launched into "The Moon, Cryptocurrencies and Me", a
stirring anthem incorporating lines such as "Be careful about
your password! Don't use the same one!" to warn against the
dangers of trading cryptocurrency, and also more obscure ones,
in English, such as "Hot day, forget myself, go to the moon."
Naruse emphasized on the group's website that it is not out to
promote investment, but rather to teach people about
cryptocurrencies in an entertaining way.
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The maid costumes aimed to raise the group's popularity with the use
of a globally recognizable "uniform," she added. Naturally, all
merchandise sold at the venue is paid for in bitcoin, as are concert
tickets and the members' salaries.
"I know absolutely nothing about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies,
but I want to make sure I have some on hand for further concerts and
to buy merchandise," said fan Kensaku Nagao, 46.
Japan and South Korea are home to some of the bigger digital
exchanges, with investors piling in as growth in bitcoin and other
cryptocurrencies soared last year, provoking regulators' concerns.
On Thursday, South Korea said it planned to ban cryptocurrency
trading, sending bitcoin prices plummeting and throwing the virtual
coin market into turmoil.
(Writing by Elaine Lies; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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