Japanese crypto industry giants to self regulate

Japan, always a hotbed of cryptocurrency activity is again in the news as a consortium of crypto industry giants agreed to form an organization that will self regulate domestic crypto markets. The group will work in conjunction with Japan’s Financial Services Agency. The 16 registered crypto market operators will also set guidelines for initial coin offerings (ICOs) in which virtual tokens are sold to finance various projects.

The unprecedented move comes as Japan based crypto exchange CoinCheck was hacked in January, with coin losses allegedly topping $500M, the largest hack in cryptocurrency since Mt Gox.

One might deduce that the groups came together to propose self-regulation rather than having a more draconian regulation foisted upon them. The market operators intend to work in concert to produce new safety standards.

The group seeks to be approved as an independent regulatory body to prohibit certain cryptocurrencies from being used if the coins are suspected of being used in money laundering schemes. While the group waits for FSA approvals, the new self-regulatory body will be open to registered operators and exchanges.

While waiting for FSA approval, the new regulatory body will be provisionally open to registered operators and exchanges. The move follows a mid-February move by seven cryptocurrency companies in the UK that banded together to form CryptoUK, the first trade organization to propose self-regulatory guideline within the UK.