Japan’s Financial Services Agency (JFCEA), the self-regulatory association for cryptocurrency in Japan, announced that they will be adding 5 new cryptocurrency exchanges to the list of blockchain businesses that they oversee.
In October, the JFCEA was officially recognized as a self-regulatory agency by the country’s top financial regulator Japan’s Financial Services Agency (JFSA)
The JFCEA was formed in April by 16 crypto exchanges that were already registered with the Japanese government.
The 16 original exchanges who formed the self-regulatory association are Money Partners Inc., BitFlyer Corporation, QUOINE CORPORATION, Bit Bank Corporation, SBI Virtual Currencies Corporation, GMO Coin Co. Ltd, Bit Trade Co. Ltd, BTC Box Corporation, Bit Point Japan Co. Ltd, DMM Bitcoin Inc., Bito Argo Exchange Co. Ltd, Bitgate Corportation, BitOcean Co. Ltd, Fiscal Virtual Currency Exchange Inc., Tech Bureau Inc. and Xtheta Corporation.
The new members of JVCEA are Coincheck, Everyone’s Bitcoin, Lastroots Inc., LVC Corporation and Coinage Corporation.
However, since these recent additions have not yet been registered with the Japanese governement, they will be classified differently than fully compliant exchanges. Members who are not yet registered with the government will listed with a “Type II classification,” which will allow investors to tell them apart.
Self Regulation in Japan
Japan’s Financial Services Agency (JFSA), the top government financial regulator in Japan believe that allowing the industry to self regulate will help drive innovation in the country, and attract high-level businesses to their economy.
In an interview with Bitcoin.com last month, a representative with the JFSA said:
“The SRO can take actions flexibly to keep up with the fast-changing environment surrounding crypto-assets. We think it necessary [for us] to work with the Jvcea closely so that the association can successfully perform self-regulatory functions through the establishment and application of self-regulatory rules and monitoring of their members.”
In the interview, the JFSA also disclosed that over 190 operators have expressed interest in entering the Japanese crypto market.