Japanese Exchanges form Crypto Association

16 government approved crypto exchanges in Japan have formed a self-regulatory association to establishing the rules and oversee compliance with self imposed terms of business conduct.

The newly established association has been registered with the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) and is made up of 16 local crypto exchanges. The association will be officially launched on 23 April 2018, when it plans to elect Taizen Okuyama, President of Money Partners as Chairman at their next Board of Directors meeting.

The remit of the association will be to establish rules for their member exchanges, and as an organization, will have the “authority to investigate and banish member companies.”

The founding members of Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association are 16 fully licensed exchanges operating in Japan. These are Bitflyer, Money Partners, Bitbank, Bitpoint, Quoine, SBI Virtual Currencies, Fisco Virtual Currency, Btcbox, Zaif, GMO Coin, Bittrade, Tokyo Bitcoin Exchange (DMM Bitcoin), Bitarg Exchange Tokyo, FTT Corporation, Xtheta Corporation, and Bitocean.

The new association will the third one in the crypto economy in Japan, with the first two being the Japan Blockchain Association (JBA) and the Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association (JCBA). They are chaired by Bitflyer CEO Yuzo Kano and the president of Money Partners Group respectively. JBA and JCBA will continue to operate with the new association becoming a member of both.

The problem in Japan is that it’s still not clear who is a member of which organisation and weather they are licensed or not. Coincheck, which was hacked recently, was not and is still not licensed by the FSA. It is allowed to trade as a “deemed dealer” while its registration is under review though. While JBA and JCBA accept members such as Coincheck, the new association will only allow fully licensed members to join, thereby raising the bar for crypto exchanges in Japan.