The Financial Services Agency (FSA), Japan's financial regulator, previously gave permission to 16 crypto exchangers to operate in the country. The FSA has also given permission to 16 other exchanges, including Coincheck, to provide cryptocurrency trading services, even though their license applications are still pending.
Regulator officials told Bitcoin News on Wednesday:
“Given preliminary consultations and registration requests, approximately 160 operators have expressed a desire to enter the Japanese market.”
Cryptocurrency companies that operate in Japan while the FSA reviews their applications are called “quasi-operators.” And although local jurisdictions boast fairly progressive regulatory rules for crypto businesses, after the Coincheck hack, the regulator began to monitor the operations of local exchanges more closely. In addition, the FSA has instructed local cryptocurrency companies to follow stricter precautions, which should help improve the security of digital currency transactions.
Tightening rules for conducting crypto business led to the fact that some trading platforms were forced to temporarily close, most likely due to the fact that their activities did not comply with the new laws. As a result, several quasi-operators are considering moving their operations overseas to countries with looser regulatory standards.
The FSA representative reported that “of the sixteen applications of local quasi-operators, three are still under consideration - Coincheck, Everybody’s Bitcoin Inc. (Minnano Bitcoin), and Lastroots.”
As already reported, almost immediately after hack Coincheck, during which approximately $530 million in NEM cryptocurrency was stolen, the exchange was acquired by Monex Group. However, Monex Group has still not received a license to operate in Japan, but it is believed within the company that the permit will be issued by September.
According to a report released by the FSA, the regulator has not yet issued licenses to new cryptocurrency firms this year. Some members of the Japanese cryptocurrency community suggested that the FSA would no longer consider applications from local exchanges, but agency representatives denied this information.
In July, the FSA reported that about 100 companies had expressed a desire to operate in Japan. These include Line Corp and Yahoo! Japan.. According to the information, Line Corp launched their own crypto exchange called Bitbox, but at the moment users from Japan and the United States cannot use its services. Currently Bitbox is also awaiting approval from the regulator.
According to cryptoglobe.com
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