Japan: VPs of Crypto Self-Regulatory Body Quit After Receiving Exchange Compliance Orders

The two vice-presidents of Japan’s self-regulatory cryptocurrency exchange body have resigned after their exchanges received regulatory warnings, Cointelegraph Japan reports June 25.

Just a week after the Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) produced its first guidelines on industry best practice, Yuzo Kano and Noriyuki Hirosue announced they would be stepping down as vice presidents of the organization.

Kano and Hirosuei are CEOs of bitFlyer and Bitbank respectively, both of which received business improvement orders from Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) June 22.

Part of an ongoing tightening up of Japan’s cryptocurrency exchange sector, a total of six exchanges will now need to conform to strict requirements relating mostly to anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) regulations.

For bitFlyer, the FSA stipulated a raft of new measures, including “an effective management system [...] to ensure proper and reliable operation of the business, as well as countermeasures against money laundering and terrorist financing.”

The JVCEA meanwhile appeared unfazed by the news, the statement promising it would continue on its mission.

“[W]e will continue to do our utmost to protect the interests of users and to promote the sound development of the virtual currency exchange industry, including the early establishment of voluntary regulation rules,” today’s statement concluded.

It so far remains unknown who will replace Kano and Hirosue, and whether their departure will affect the body’s future plans.