Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) plans to bolster its workforce by 12 personnel to better handle the growing influx of applications for crypto exchange licenses, Reuters Japan reported September 12. At a crypto exchange study group meeting Wednesday, the FSA’s vice commissioner for policy coordination, Kiyotaka Sasaki, said that the agency is currently conducting its oversight of crypto exchanges with a team of around 30 people, whose work includes the review of license applications. Yet Sasaki reportedly stressed that with over 160 firms currently awaiting review, the dedicated number of personnel is insufficient, saying the agency would need to add …

Now-defunct Japanese Bitcoin (BTC) exchange Mt. Gox has extended its online rehabilitation claim filing system to corporate users, according to an official announcement posted on the exchange’s site today, September 12. Today’s announcement follows upon an online system for individual (non-corporate) users that was released August 23, allowing them to file proofs of bankruptcy claims. The deadline for filing the rehabilitation claims is October 22, 2018, and the claims can also alternatively be filed offline. The announcement has been signed by Tokyo attorney Nobuaki Kobayashi, who has been appointed to act as civil rehabilitation trustee to manage Mt. Gox’s bankruptcy …

Huobi Global's wholly owned subsidiary, Huobi Japan Holding Ltd, has recently acquired a majority stake in Japan’s BitTrade — one of only 16 regulated crypto exchanges in the country, Cointelegraph Japan reports Wednesday, September 12. As Cointelegraph has learned, Huobi Japan will get 100 percent of the shares from True Joyful Limited, BVI, which holds holds all of the beneficiary interest in the company. FXTF Asset Investment Private Ltd. reportedly had 75 percent of the shares, with FX Trade Financial with 25 percent. Haiteng Chen, the acting president of Huobi Japan, was named as a chairman of BitTrade while Chris …

Japanese tech giant SoftBank is developing a blockchain-powered cross-carrier mobile payments service, the company reported in an official press release published September 12. SoftBank’s new proof-of-concept (PoC) development was announced in partnership with telecoms-focused blockchain firm TBCASoft and Synchronoss Technologies, provider of cloud, messaging, digital, and Internet of Things (IoT) services and platforms. The upcoming mobile payment service will be based on the Rich Communication Services (RCS) global messaging standard and TBCASoft’s cross-carrier blockchain platform. The service will will enable users to conduct peer-to-peer money transfers globally, as well as to carry out internal purchases directly from their device via …

Free and fair elections are one of the pillars of healthy democracies. From the United States to Sierra Leone, advocates of blockchain believe that the technology can bring a new level of transparency, fairness and efficiency to the electoral process. In spite of the enthusiasm of the blockchain community — and tentative support from political bodies — attempts to implement the technology have enjoyed mixed success and have faced impassioned criticism. Japan’s scientific hub trials blockchain In late August, the Japanese city of Tsukuba trialed the use of blockchain technology in its voting system. Tsukuba is a city already closely …

The crypto automated trading machine (ATM) market will grow to $114.5 million by 2023, according a report published Sept. 4 on ResearchandMarkets.com. Researchers expect the cryptocurrency ATM market to grow from $16.3 million in 2018 to $144.5 million by 2023, citing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 54.7 percent from 2018 to 2023. According to the study, significant growth during the forecast period will be from two-way ATMs, which let customers change digital currency into fiat and vise-versa using a single machine. The study says that the machines’ functionality is the key driver of two-way crypto ATMs’ popularity among …

On Aug. 31, Line, Japan’s most widely utilized messaging app with more than 200 million active users, revealed the launch of its own cryptocurrency called LINK. Upon its announcement, Line immediately listed LINK on its digital asset exchange BitBox, which it launched back in July of this year. Uniquely, as Cointelegraph reported, Line has decided not to conduct an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) to raise a significant amount of capital in exchange for the distribution of its token. Instead, Line utilized a mechanism called ‘airdrop’ to give users LINK as compensation for utilizing products within the Line ecosystem. Essentially, LINK …

A former Deutsche Bank trader has joined Japanese crypto exchange-startup FXcoin Ltd., Bloomberg reports September 3. According to the announcement, Yasuo Matsuda, an institutional trader from Deutsche Bank, will join FXcoin as a senior crypto strategist starting in September 2018. The strategist position includes providing analysis of crypto markets and daily reports on the market’s activity. The newly appointed 49-year old Matsuda worked as foreign-exchange dealer at the German bank from 2012 until this June. FXcoin Ltd., founded in September 2017, is currently seeking regulatory approval from Japan’s financial regulator the Financial Services Agency (FSA) in order to operate “virtual …

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) organized tours to other countries for its officials to study cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICO), according to its 2017-18 annual report. The Indian regulator reports that authorities have already undertaken “study tours” in particular to study cryptocurrency and ICOs at Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA), the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). The overseas study trips reportedly took place to help officials “engage with the international regulators and gain deeper understanding of the systems and mechanisms,” the document states. The report is not the …

South Korea’s SBI Savings Bank has signed an MoU with DAYLI Intelligence, a specialist in AI and blockchain technology, to bolster its fintech business, Money Today reports September 3. DAYLI Intelligence provides blockchain solutions and AI-based tech infrastructure for financial institutions. The firm will reportedly assist SBI in implementing both blockchain and machine learning to maximize work efficiency and reduce costs across various financial products and services. DAYLI will provide SBI with solutions based on ‘LoopChain,’ the protocol that it has developed alongside blockchain startup theloop as part of the ICON ecosystem. The latter is a project that aims to …

The Japanese city of Tsukuba, north of Tokyo, has recently tested a voting system based on blockchain technology, local newspaper The Japan Times wrote Sunday, September 2. The city, which The Japan Times described as a “center for scientific research,” held the voting trial in late August. As Cointelegraph Japan reported earlier, in order to vote the participants had to have My Number Card — a 12-digit ID number issued to all citizens of Japan including foreign residents, introduced in 2015. According to the city of Tsukuba’s official website, the election was dedicated to several social programs. Residents could choose …

Japan’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), will fortify the process of registration screening for cryptocurrency exchanges, local media outlet The Japan Times reports September 2. The FSA has ungraded the registration process, revising the Payment Services Act — enforced since April 2017 — in order to “to see whether they [crypto exchanges] are properly conducting risk management,” sources told The Japan Times. The financial watchdog has added several new features to the previous act’s legislation, increasing “the number of questions asked when screening applications to about 400 items, up fourfold”. The FSA also will now require access to …