The Monex Group, who purchased the Coincheck cryptocurrency exchange in April, released a letter on Wednesday (Dec 19) refuting an article that claimed the exchange received official approval from Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA).
An article from the Nikkei Asian Review on December 19th asserted that Coincheck’s exchange license was approved by the FSA and said an announcement would come at the end of the year.
The letter from Monex, releases later in the day, said media reporting about the matter “was not based on our announcement.”
Nikkei indicated in the article that it had “learned” about the approval by the FSA, but it was not immediately clear who its sources were.
As of press time, few additional details about the situation have been released.
A License After Coincheck Cleans Up Their Act?
The Monex Group said the exchange is being reviewed for a licence, but “there is not any fact regarding the registration that has been determined.”
It noted any pertinent information about Coincheck would be shared “in a timely and appropriate manner” moving forward.
Monex purchased the embattled exchange in April after hackers managed to steal about $511 million dollar’s worth of cryptocurrency in January, according to the Nikkei Asian Review.
After the hack, the FSA issued two orders to the exchange to bolster business operations and patch up vulnerabilities related to customer protection and anti-money laundering.
The Nikkei Asian Review noted how the FSA allegedly acknowledged Coincheck had improved their systems after being purchased by Monex. It also paid out 46 billion Japanese Yen (roughly $411 million) to clients as compensation.
Coincheck Is Making A Comeback
CryptoGlobe reported in late October how the exchange was open to new account signups, and users would be permitted to carry out limited trades starting on October 30th.
The Monex Group indicated users would be able to buy and deposit bitcoin, Ethereum Classic, and Litecoin. Before Monex purchased the exchange, users were only allowed to trade bitcoin on the platform.
Monex noted at the time users might have the ability to trade other cryptocurrencies “if the services are confirmed safe and become ready to be offered.”
However, Monex said it had lost about $7.5 million due to the operational costs of running the exchange after purchase. It said the damage from the January hack required large investment in security infrastructure.
