The Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) has decided to put all virtual currency exchanges in the country under full surveillance starting from October, CoinDesk reports.
The agency is going to monitor whether the exchanges for Bitcoin (EXANTE: Bitcoin) and other digital currencies have the necessary internal systems to protect customer assets. They are even planning to carry out on-site inspections.
FSA established a 30-strong surveillance team including agency and local finance bureau officials with relevant expertise in August.
“We pursue both market fostering and regulation enforcement. We aim for sound market development,” an FSA executive explained.
All digital currency exchanges operating in Japan are required to register with authorities by the end of September under the revised payment services law that went into effect in April.
Earlier this month China’s central bank the People’s Bank of China proclaimed initial coin offerings (ICOs) illegal and demanded all related fundraising activity to be halted immediately. Chinese Bitcoin exchanges were ordered to stop all trading from September 30.