The group hopes the experiment will prove bitcoin worthy as a fundraising tool.

Japanese financial information provider Fisco is experimenting with selling bonds denominated in bitcoin, hoping that the crypto-currency will become a legally-recognised financial asset in Japan and help drive its business. 

A division of the Tokyo-headquartered firm issued three-year debt worth 200 bitcoins – around $894,200 as of Thursday – to another unit in the Fisco group on 10 August, in what was likely the first deal of its kind in Japan, according to Masayuki Tashiro, Fisco's chief product officer. One aim of the sale, he said, was to test the bonds' potential as a fundraising tool.

The experiment is another example of how companies across the world are trying to cash in on crypto-currencies, such as bitcoin, which has nearly doubled in value over the past month. 

“We expect that bitcoin will eventually be recognised as a financial product” under local law governing financial instruments, Tashiro said. 

Japan's government legalised crypto-currencies as a form of payment in April and drafted rules around audits and security. In July, regulators began allowing purchases made with bitcoin to be exempt from Japan's 8 per cent sales tax. 

Earlier this week, Australia announced it would follows in Japan's footsteps and bring bitcoin and other crypto-currencies into its regulatory scope. It is unclear, however, exactly how the new legislation will look. 

Fisco's bond pays a 3 per cent coupon and gives the holder 200 bitcoins back when it matures.