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Topic: Yahoo Japan Plans To Launch Cryptocurrency Exchange Amid FSA Crackdown (Read 125 times)

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Well, at least someone began to shovel the rubble that accumulated, let them continue to make better exchanges and strengthen the world's crypto currency.
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Japanese crypto regulators sent crypto prices spiraling lower earlier this month when they announced a heavy-handed crackdown on seven local cryptocurrency exchanges (and ordered month-long suspensions for two more).

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As CoinTelegraph reports, the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) has sent “punishment notices” to seven crypto exchanges and temporarily halted the activities of two more after a round of inspections prompted by January’s Coincheck hack, CNBC reports Thursday, March 8.

The FSA issued business improvement orders for a lack of “the proper and required internal control systems” to seven exchanges, including Coincheck, which was specifically cited as lacking a system for preventing money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

The crackdown followed a historic theft of more than $500 million of NEM tokens from the Japanese exchange CoinCheck, which had been attributed to the fact that the exchange stored its customers' funds in a low-security wallet. Regulators also discovered that an employee at unlicensed exchange Bit Station had improperly accessed customers' coins.

And yesterday, the FSA warned Binance, a popular Hong Kong based exchange that was launched last year after issuing an initial coin offering, that it must either obtain a license or cease operating in Japan.

Meanwhile, in what appears to be a bid to avoid scrutiny from the FSA, Japan's 16 licensed cryptocurrency exchanges are planning to launch a self-regulatory body similar to FINRA.

Perhaps sensing an opening, Yahoo Japan is planning to launch a regulated bitcoin exchange, according to a Nikkei report published Friday. Instead of building the exchange from scratch, Yahoo Japan plans to acquire a 40% stake in BitARG Exchange Tokyo, one of the 16 licensed exchanges, and use its technology to build a new exchange, to be launched in April 2019, or later.

The shares will be purchased for 2 billion yen ($19 million) via BitARG's subsidiary YJFX, a forex trading platform.

The news had no discernible impact on crypto prices, which continued to drift lower Friday morning.

Earlier this week, Japanese officials attending the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires defended cryptocurrencies, arguing they were not a threat to broader financial stability...

Unlike so many of his peers, BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has refused to slam cryptocurrencies - instead choosing to highlight the crypto "wealth effect" which he said could have a positive impact on GDP.

Japan became the first G-10 country to adopt a comprehensive regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies last year when legislation recognizing bitcoin as money - and clearing the way for financial institutions to deal in crypto - was signed into law.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-23/yahoo-japan-plans-launch-cryptocurrency-exchange-amid-fsa-crackdown
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