In order to better handle a large number of interests on cryptocurrency related activities in Japan, the country’s financial watchdog, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) plans to take in new staff, according to reports from on Reuters.
On Wednesday, September 12 the FSA organized a cryptocurrency workshop with important Japanese digital currency stakeholders including trading platforms, scholars, lawyers, and government officials.
During the workshop, the FSA’s vice commissioner for policy coordination, Kiyotaka Sasaki, said that the agency is currently conducting its oversight of crypto exchanges with a team of around 30 people, whose work including license registration reviews.
He noted that his agency would need to add 12 further persons in 2019 for the fiscal year of 2019. This is to better handle the over 160 new cryptocurrency platforms and exchanges currently awaiting review in Japan.
Kiyotaka Sasaki explained that the dedicated number of personnel is insufficient and this shortfall was the FSA’s “biggest problem”.
The FSA report published after the meeting showed that even though many crypto exchanges are handling large volumes of user asset, they are doing so with fewer personnel than required, about 3.3 billion yen [around $30 million] per employee on average.
Furthermore, the total assets held by Japanese crypto exchanges for investors have increased by 553 percent over the past year (currently, $6.2 billion), more than 75 percent of them have less than 20 personnel.
The FSA revealed that it was left with 3 out of an original 16 applications it was reviewing. It explained that 12 applications were withdrawn at its request while another one was rejected. Coincheck is among the three pseudo-operators awaiting a final decision by the FSA.
The publication also confirmed that more than 100 operators now planning to submit applications for an exchange license.
Solomon Sunny is the market reporter for Smartereum, one of the global leaders in Ethereum, blockchain and currency news. He produces technical price updates on digital currencies and writes recent developments about blockchain.
