Japan: FSA Is Not Going to Stomp On The Crypto Business

The Commissioner of the Japanese financial services Agency (FSA), Toshihide Endo gave Reuters an interview about the economic regulation in the country.

Among other issues, the regulator touched upon the topic of Japanese crypto-exchanges. Endo noted that FSA was trying to achieve the “golden mean” between the consumer protection and the support for technological innovation.

Recently, we covered the inspection carried out by FSA in conjunction with the Consumer Protection Agency and the National police office. The reason for the large-scale audit was the hack of the Coinchek exchange, which led to a loss of $500 million. Because of the disappointing results of the audit, the Agency hinted at the tightening the rules of crypto-exchanges.  

However, during the conversation Toshihide Endo hurried to calm the crypto community of Japan, saying that strengthening control over local cryptocurrency exchanges will not prevent the development of the market:

“We have no intention to curb (the crypto industry) excessively. We would like to see it grow under appropriate regulation.”

Since 2017, Japan is the first country in the world that started to regulate the activities of crypto-exchanges at the legislative level. For the sake of maintaining a high status, the regulator tries to sit on two chairs — to protect ordinary users and to give freedom to technological development. Despite the fact that now the Land of the Rising Sun faces great challenges, regulatory initiatives still allow us to count on a successful outcome.