Japan Roundup: No Excessive Crypto Regulation, Quoine Launches New Platform

Japan’s top financial regulator says it does not intend to excessively curb the crypto industry. Licensed Japanese crypto exchange Quoine is launching a new platform with “enhanced price matching and deeper liquidity.” Meanwhile, a new association has been established for crypto practitioners.

Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space

Quoine Launches New Platform

Fully-licensed Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Quoine is rolling out its new platform, Liquid. Both of the exchange’s trading platforms, Quoinex and Qryptos, will be migrated to Liquid on September 4. The migration is expected to take up to 24 hours.

Liquid is open to everyone except the previously excluded citizens of countries on the Financial Action Task Force high-risk list. “US customers won’t have access to fiat pairings and Japanese customers will only have access to currencies and services approved by the Japan Financial Services Agency [FSA], basically the same as what was on Quoinex JP before,” the exchange detailed, adding that:

The new platform’s order matching is powered by Quoine’s World Book, which provides traders with enhanced price matching and deeper liquidity.

New Crypto Audit Services

Corporate risk and IT management firm Newton Consulting Ltd. joined the Japan Blockchain Association last week and has started offering audit services for crypto businesses. Established in 2016, the firm also focuses on cybersecurity, ISO certification and IT operations management.

An audit takes about three months, the firm explained. “We will evaluate the security level of the virtual currency trading system in terms of maintenance status and operational status. We will also present remedial measures based on best practices for the virtual currency trading system.”

New Crypto Association Formed

A new association has been established in Japan called the Japan Cryptocurrency Practitioners Association (Jcpa). The chairman is tax accountant Hirakawa Shigeru. The association holds educational seminars and provides business consulting services.

Japan already has three major industry associations. One is the recently established Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association whose members are all of the licensed crypto exchanges in the country. The other two prominent associations are the Japan Blockchain Association and the Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association.

FSA Will Not Excessively Regulate Crypto

Toshihide Endo.

Toshihide Endo, FSA’s Deputy Director-General, told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday that “the FSA was trying to strike a balance between protecting consumers and promoting technological innovation.”

After the hack of Coincheck in January, the agency has tightened its oversight of crypto exchanges. Recently, the regulator released the results of its inspection of 23 crypto exchanges, detailing many issues. The agency has issued a number of business improvement orders to both fully-licensed exchanges and deemed dealers or those that are allowed to operate while their applications are being reviewed.

Nonetheless, Endo confirmed:

We have no intention to curb (the crypto industry) excessively…We would like to see it grow under appropriate regulation.

What do you think of Japan’s latest crypto developments? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, American Chamber of Commerce Japan, and Tsinghua.

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