In recent developments, Japan’s financial services agency has gone ahead and legalized four new cryptocurrency exchanges. This development came in December 2017 and is the second batch of exchanges which have been approved by the financial regulator of Japan. In September of this year as well, 11 cryptocurrency exchanges were legalized. Japan has a lot of cryptocurrency exchanges operating specifically for the residents of the country. Since the financial regulator of the country has started the drive to legalize cryptocurrency exchanges, almost all of them have submitted their application. The Japanese authorities are also pretty quick to assess the applications and decide whether they should approve them or not.
In total, 15 cryptocurrency exchanges have been legalized or approved by the Japanese authorities. However, the Japanese authorities are quick to point out that these cryptocurrency exchanges would have to meet the fund settlement laws which are as per Japanese rules and regulations. The cryptocurrency exchanges which have been approved recently are Bitcoin exchange, FTT Corp, Bit Arg Exchange Tokyo Co. and Xtheta Corp.
Among these 4 companies, the last one offers the investors to trade in different cryptocurrencies. The rest of the 3 exchanges are just limited to Bitcoin trading.
According to the financial regulator of Japan, there are still more applications which are under consideration as well. Also, the Japanese regulator has stated that quite a few applications were rejected as well. The regulator further stated that the companies whose applications were rejected have already ceased business activities.
Coincheck which is the second largest Bitcoin trading platform in Japan is also having its application in the pending status. The Japanese regulator has gone a step further and launched guidelines pertaining to not only cryptocurrency platforms but also to ICO offerings by various companies. The regulator has further stated that it would be monitoring the activities on the cryptocurrency trading platforms.
Proper regulation is one of the best options for cryptocurrency companies rather than just shutting them down indiscriminately. If the regulators are working in tandem with the cryptocurrency exchanges, proper rules and regulations can be drafted which would make them legal and allow normal investors to invest in cryptocurrencies. This would also make it easier for the local authorities to monitor the activities on the cryptocurrency platforms.
Husband, Father, Friend | Writer at TowardsDataScience and Hackernoon | Salih Sarikaya is a data &product & media professional with many years of experience | Top Tech Influencers of USA (CES2017-Onalytica) | Key Blockchain Influencer (Business Insider, DisruptorDaily, TokenTarget, KLOUT, MOZ) | Entrepreneur | Author | Pro Member of PEN America & SPJ | Computational Sociology MA
