Introducing the world’s first cryptocurrency-themed pop group

A new Japanese pop group is jumping on the cryptocurrency bandwagon by singing about the benefits - and dangers - of hotly debated virtual tokens such as bitcoin and Ethereum.

Kasotsuka Shojo, which roughly translates as “virtual currency girls”, comprises eight members who each represent a different digital currency, Quartz reports.

The group was launched recently by the Japanese entertainment firm Cinderella Academy, the news site says, to produce songs that will “educate the public about the crypto world”.

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The band members wear matching maid outfits and different coloured glittery masks to denote which virtual coin they represent, says Business Insider.

“Virtual currency girls are not units that encourage speculation or investment,” says the group’s leader, Naruse Lara, according to a Google Translate translation. “It is a unit that carefully selects future currencies from a number of virtual currencies and spreads correct knowledge in entertainment.”

The group’s debut single, called The Moon and Virtual Currencies and Me, is a “blistering electro-pop song” that urges fans to maintain their online security, reports The Verge.

Japan “has become one of bitcoin’s biggest markets”, says Alphr, after the country’s government passed a law last April recognising the cryptocurrency as legal tender.