Japan’s Minister of Finance thinks that it is doubtful the public would accept a change in the taxation of cryptocurrency transactions, Cointelegraph Japan reports today, June 25. During today’s Upper House Budget Committee meeting, Senator Fujimaki asked Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso whether crypto transactions should be taxed via a “separate settlement taxation,” rather than their present classification as “miscellaneous income.” Aso said the prospect was “doubtful” and expressed concern over the public’s reaction due to “tax fairness.” The current tax rate for crypto transactions has a maximum of 55 percent, and changing its category would bring it to …

Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) will be issuing business improvement notices to five registered cryptocurrency exchanges by the end of this week, Cointelegraph Japan reports Tuesday, June 19. According to the FSA inspections, crypto exchanges BitFlyer, Quoine, Bitbank, BITPoint Japan, and BtcBox do not have the proper internal management systems, including their measures to prevent money laundering. BitFlyer, Quoine and Bitbank are some of the largest crypto exchanges both in the country and in the world, currently sitting at 27th, 18th and 20th places by trade volume, according to Coinmarketcap data. When asked about the business improvement notices, BITPoint Japan …

Japan’s Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) will reportedly be releasing new voluntary rules next week, Cointelegraph Japan reports today, June 18. The official announcement of the regulatory guidelines, set for June 27th, will reportedly include a ban on insider trading, penalizing cryptocurrency exchange employees if they engage in “inappropriate” trading due to their firsthand knowledge. In order to conform to anti-money laundering (AML) regulations, the voluntary regulation proposal will also prohibit the trading of anonymity-oriented cryptocurrencies, such as Monero and Zcash, on exchanges. Formed at the end of April following the $530 mln NEM hack of Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck, …

Recently hacked Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck will end trading for four privacy-oriented cryptocurrencies, Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), Dash (DASH), and Augur (REP), Cointelegraph Japan reported May 18. Following reports from back in March, the exchange has now officially confirmed the removal of the four anonymity-focused coins will come into effect June 18. According to Coincheck’s blog, the exchange will remove the four cryptocurrencies to comply with counter-terrorist financing (CFT) and anti-money laundering (AML) measures recently issued by Japan’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA). The FSA has been especially active in regulating domestic crypto exchanges, specifically around customer protection, …

Monex Inc, the company that recently acquired hacked Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck, has revealed plans to expand the exchange to the U.S. in an interview with Bloomberg today, May 18. Monex CEO Oki Matsumoto said he expects Coincheck will receive an official license from Japanese authorities next month, but - without specifying a timeframe - he revealed the company now has its sights beyond Asia: “Japan may seem like it’s one step ahead in crypto, but in terms of deciding what’s a security or a token and attracting institutional investors, the U.S. and Europe are moving ahead.” Japan has long …

Japan’s financial watchdog, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), has laid out yet further regulatory stipulations for domestic crypto exchanges, Cointelegraph Japan reports today, May 6. The regulator is reportedly intensifying its efforts to prevent a repeat of January’s $532 mln hack of crypto exchange Coincheck, the biggest single exchange hack in the history of the crypto ecosystem. As Cointelegraph Japan reports, an FSA source told local news outlet Nikkei Asian Review that identifying potential risks in advance has been a challenge for the watchdog. The source reportedly told Nikkei that "without the necessary know-how, we've been feeling our way through …

The aftermath of the January 26 hack of more than $500 mln worth of NEM from Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck has led to a regulatory re-examination of Japan’s crypto industry, so far culminating in the $33.5 mln sale of the hacked exchange to Japanese financial services provider Monex Group. Japan had been one of the leading countries in crypto adoption when it legalized Bitcoin as a payment method a year ago. The move was made in part to prevent another hacking incident such as that of the now defunct Japanese crypto exchange Mt. Gox — arguably the most infamous, and …

132 crypto investors have filed a lawsuit against the Japanese-based crypto exchange Coincheck, seeking 228 mln yen (around $2 mln) in damages, local news outlet Sankei reported Tuesday Feb. 27. Coincheck suffered a major hack in late January that resulted in the theft of more than 523 mln NEM, worth around $530 mln at the time. The exchange has since promised to refund all of its customers in full at a rate of about 82 cents per token. Despite the company’s refund promise, ten crypto traders had already filed lawsuits against Coincheck on Feb. 15 at the Tokyo District Court …