Following The $500 Million Hack, Japan Starts New Self-Regulatory Organization

Recent reports have it that sixteen cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan have started a new self-regulatory organization in an effort to the $500 million theft in January.

Reports from Nikkei stated that the new initiative will see the group of licensed cryptocurrency exchanges, represented by two organizations in Japan, working towards rolling out standards in April for the country’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) in an effort to improve security measures among them. The group will also work toward developing standards for the activities around initial coin offerings.

The new organization’s formation, the name of which has yet to be determined, came after the two trade groups – the Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association (JCBA) and Japan Blockchain Association (JBA) – reached an agreement last week.

Taizen Okuyama, president of foreign exchange trading firm Money Partners Group and chairman of the JCBA, and Yuzo Kano, CEO of exchange startup bitFlyer and the head of the JBA, will serve as the chairman and vice chairman of the new group, respectively.

The move confirms previous reports about an effort to develop an SRO for Japan’s cryptocurrency exchange ecosystem.

The idea was put forward as a way to shore up public confidence in the wake of a hack that resulted in the theft $500 million worth of the NEM token from Coincheck, one of the Japanese exchanges that have yet to be fully approved by the FSA.

As previously reported, Coincheck hasn’t been approved yet by the financial regulator because of security issues, which the FSA said it had alerted Coincheck about prior to the heist.