This article previously contained inaccurate data, it has since been updated for accuracy. On March 7 a report addressed to the Tokyo District Court revealed that a Mt. Gox bankruptcy trustee – Nobuaki Kobayashi – may have contributed to the three month downtrend in the cryptocurrency market. Over the past three months, Nobuaki Kobayashi has sold over $300 mln in Bitcoin on two public exchanges. Some critics believe Kobayashi's sales put so many Bitcoin back into circulation, that the sales contributed to severe drops in the price of Bitcoin. Bitcoin has declined 51.6 percent since its Dec. 17 peak of …

132 crypto investors have filed a lawsuit against the Japanese-based crypto exchange Coincheck, seeking 228 mln yen (around $2 mln) in damages, local news outlet Sankei reported Tuesday Feb. 27. Coincheck suffered a major hack in late January that resulted in the theft of more than 523 mln NEM, worth around $530 mln at the time. The exchange has since promised to refund all of its customers in full at a rate of about 82 cents per token. Despite the company’s refund promise, ten crypto traders had already filed lawsuits against Coincheck on Feb. 15 at the Tokyo District Court …

Cryptocurrency exchanges in Malaysia must now fully identify traders after new central bank anti-money laundering legislation came into effect Tuesday, Feb. 27. A copy of the legislation and official press release from the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) states that any exchanges offering crypto-to-fiat, fiat-to-crypto and even crypto-to-crypto trading must “identify the customer and verify that customer’s identity.” As Cointelegraph reported in November 2017, forecasting the regulations, BNM Governor Tan Sri Muhammad bin Ibrahim placed emphasis on the need to control potential criminal usage of digital currencies. “The advent of digital currencies as some have forecast will mark the beginning of …

A Japanese company PATRON is launching a new Blockchain-based platform for supporting the social media influencers. The project aims to create a full ecosystem where Influencers and SNS users around the world will be able to post, discover and book social media sharing economy information on the Internet and mobile tablet, the company’s white paper states. The company is creating a sharing economy system which works similar to Airbnb. A ‘host’ can purchase one influential post, ‘buy’ an influencer for up to several months or even for a year. In the influencer marketing industry, up to 40 percent of the …

China’s Bitcoin-to-fiat exchange and ICO ban is producing a record number of “desperate” refugees, Quoine’s CEO Mike Kayamori has said. In comments to Bloomberg, the Japanese exchange head said the fallout from the Chinese rules means the country’s exchange operators are fervently looking for alternatives, including in Japan. “We’re talking to almost all of those guys. They’re all desperate now,” he told the publication. Japan offers a ‘friendlier’ licensed environment for crypto exchange businesses, while China’s household names such as OKCoin and Binance are eyeing up Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea. Kayamori said that such is the scale of …

The demand for Bitcoin and the rush to invest in the digital coin are growing daily. Despite the criticism and ‘fraud’ accusations, great names like Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are thinking about introducing a cryptocurrencies trading desk and what kind of legal bottlenecks are involved. Image: the street It was reported earlier that the company is considering the possibility for its investors to trade in Bitcoin. The bank is yet to commence cryptocurrency trading and is looking into the legal implications. A bank as experienced as Goldman Sachs wouldn’t want to jump into a business that may face regulations in …

Japan’s budget airline company, Peach Airlines, is set to accept Bitcoin as a legitimate payment method by the end of the year. Aside from that, the company announced itsplans to install Bitcoin ATMs in Japan airports in a move that will encourage usage of the leading cryptocurrency. Will others follow soon? Though they weren’t the first airline company in the world to accept Bitcoin as a payment method (AirBaltic being the first one), Peach Airlines is one of the more well known airlines that bring passengers to many Asian countries such as China and Korea. Even though Peach Airlines has …

Blockchain startup Tech Bureau unveils new core Catapult and raises US$ 6.6 million to fund Zaif Bitcoin Exchange. Blockchain startup Tech Bureau is based in Osaka, Japan. It has been in the news recently as it’s raised funds for its two major offerings: Zaif exchange and Mijin, a private blockchain product. Cointelegraph had the opportunity to talk to Takao Asayama, CEO of Tech Bureau Corp (Zaif Exchange). We asked him in detail about the future of Tech Bureau and recent new developments. Funding from existing partners Takao Asayama revealed to us that TechBureau has received funding to the tune of …

The Japanese market is a young and developing one. Therefore, it’s not surprising that it faces some problems and obstacles during its development. Takao Asayama, the CEO of Zaif and creator of Mijin, a Blockchain technology service, talked to Cointelegraph about the current problems of Japanese Bitcoin and Blockchain markets. Currently, there are two groups of influence in Japan – The Japan Authority of Digital Asset (JADA) and a group of independent companies that includes Zaif, BitBank and BTC-Box. Each group is searching for its own ways to communicate with the government and FSA. Cointelegraph: What are the main problems …

Japanese startup Tech Bureau Inc. launches a new cryptocurrency exchange, dubbed Zaif exchange, supporting Bitcoin as well as the "Japanese Dogecoin," Monacoin, in a bid to become "the hub that connects Japan to the global cryptocurrency market." Backed by US$835,000 in funding from Nippon Technology Venture Partners, a Japanese venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage investing for startups, Tech Bureau Inc. acquired local digital currency exchange Etwings, and relaunched the service yesterday, after making significant improvements in its platform, including the addition of multi-signature features and cold storage. Mt. Gox's collapse over a year ago had left nothing but …

German e-bank Fidor has announced end-to-end support for Bitcoin transactions directly linked to one of their regular bank accounts alongside plans of US expansion. Samsung acquires over-the-counter payment system LoopPay. Bitcoin companies may be vulnerable to Equation Group style attacks, and other top stories for February 23. E-bank Fidor announces ‘express’ and insured bitcoin trading, expanding to the US German e-bank Fidor has been working with Bitcoin.de since last July aiming to launch a service offering end-to-end Bitcoin services linked to one of their regular bank accounts. This is the first time in the world a regulated bank has offered …