On March 7, 2018, it was reported that Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) will soon clamp down on some of the nation’s cryptocurrency exchanges due to gaps in AML compliance and consumer protection, which were discovered during on-site inspections. It is not immediately apparent which exchanges failed on these accounts or what sort of sanctions they will face.
Sources also said that Coincheck, a Japanese exchange that was robbed of more than $500 million worth of cryptocurrency, may be asked to raise its standards (likely related to its underwhelming cybersecurity safeguards).
This past week, ETHNews reported that a group of 16 Japanese cryptocurrency exchanges had received approval from the FSA to form a self-regulatory organization (SRO).