Celebrity listing crashes Japanese exchange's party

Tokyo

ON Japan's newest exchange, fame can pay off. That may not be so great for investors though.

Last month, Hikaru, a Japanese YouTube star so famous he can go by a single stage name, listed himself on Valu, a platform for people to raise money, often for personal projects or businesses, by essentially selling shares in themselves.

Unlike many crowdsourcing sites, which are platforms for people or businesses to raise money online from large groups of individuals, the exchange also allows the trading of those who list their "Valus" on it.

That means that prices can rise and fall. And rise and fall Hikaru did.

Soon after listing, Hikaru, whose YouT…