{"id":155651,"date":"2018-03-08T03:34:33","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T08:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=155651"},"modified":"2018-03-08T03:34:33","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T08:34:33","slug":"japan-penalizes-several-cryptocurrency-exchanges-after-hack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/03\/08\/japan-penalizes-several-cryptocurrency-exchanges-after-hack\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan penalizes several cryptocurrency exchanges after hack"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Japan<\/a>
FILE: Japan Flag\u00a0(Photo: inu-photo\/ Flickr<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TOKYO \u2014 The Japanese government is slapping penalties on several crypotocurrency exchanges in the country, after 58 billion yen ($530 million) of virtual coins were lost earlier this year from hacking.<\/p>\n

The Financial Services Agency, which has been checking the exchanges, said Thursday that FSHO and Bit Station exchanges were ordered to halt operations for a month.<\/p>\n

It said FSHO was not properly monitoring trades and had not carried out employee training. The agency said it found that a Bit Station employee had taken bitcoins for personal use.<\/p>\n

Five other exchanges, including Coincheck, targeted in the massive hacking, were ordered to improve their operations.<\/p>\n

Coincheck had received a similar order earlier to beef up security measures.<\/p>\n

Japan is unusual in the world for embracing cryptocurrencies and setting up a licensing system to oversee their use.<\/p>\n

The exchanges ordered to improve their operations must file a plan to the agency by March 22.<\/p>\n

The theft at Coincheck of the NEM currency was the second major hacking assault on a Japanese crypto exchange after the Mt. Gox debacle in 2014.<\/p>\n

But Japan has chosen to seize the opportunity and regulate exchanges, setting up a licensing system last year, although experts say that such measures are no guarantee against hacking and cybercrime.<\/p>\n

Japan has officially licensed 16 virtual-currency exchanges, and more, including Coincheck, are applying for licenses. As much as half of the world’s bitcoin trading is estimated to be in yen.<\/p>\n

Some countries like China are cracking down on virtual currencies, while other countries like the U.S. have been cautious, encouraging their use in limited ways.<\/p>\n

Japan has been far more accommodating to cryptocurrencies, attracting new businesses in the technology called blockchain.<\/p>\n

TV ads and billboard posters sing the praise of bitcoin, although they come with warnings, in fine print, to invest at your own risk.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TOKYO \u2014 The Japanese government is slapping penalties on several crypotocurrency exchanges in the country, after 58 billion yen ($530 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":98580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[47846,667],"class_list":["post-155651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-w","tag-crypotocurrency","tag-japan","mauthors-yuri-kageyama","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}