There has been merger of a group of Japanese cryptocurrency exchange industries in forming a new self-regulatory organization.
According to Reuters, the merging has taken place between 16 exchanges in forming self regulatory body after the Coincheck exchange had $533 million in NEM tokens stolen in a security breach in January. The report suggests that the naming of the new organization can be announced within the next week.
The initial plan of merging two primary cryptocurrency industry groups – Japan Blockchain Association and Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association – was not agreed upon, and the formation of a new organization was decided that would have its registration with the country’s financial regulator, the Financial Service Agency (FSA).
The report further states about talks pertaining to the self-regulatory organization following last month’s infamous hack of cryptocurrency exchange, Coincheck, now seen as the biggest cryptocurrency theft ever.
While, there is scarcity of new body’s details, it is likelier that the 16 exchanges behind the soon-to-be-launched entity are the sixteen currently licensed cryptocurrency exchanges registered with the FSA.
FSA has ordered that the country’s exchanges to report on their protocols of security and resistance to hack in response to the theft of Coincheck.
Japanese exchanges, under the revised Payment Services Act, must register with the Financial Services Agency, to acquire a special license to be eligible to operate in the country.
FSA has granted licenses for certain crypto exchanges in the country, since September 2017, under the new legislation. The other applications for a license that have not been approved were allowed to continue working temporarily. The theft has led to ramping up of the security by Japanese regulators on the industry with on-site inspections targeting some 16 unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges.
