Japan's FSA to add 12 more people to cryptocurrency team

Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) is seeking to expand its team focused on cryptocurrencies and related activities, a senior official was recently quoted saying.

Kiyotaka Sasaki, vice commissioner for policy coordination at the FSA, said that the agency currently has a team of 30 people monitoring this space, Reuters reported.

He revealed that FSA is planning to increase the headcount by 12 more people for the fiscal year of 2019, adding that the objective is to “strengthen the response to virtual currency exchange operators.”

On Wednesday, the agency hosted the fifth study group meeting on virtual currency exchange industry with trading platforms, scholars, lawyers, and government officials, CoinDesk reported.

In a document released after the meeting, the FSA stated that that the total assets held by domestic cryptocurrency exchanges for investors have surged by 553 percent over the past year.

Importantly, the agency said that it has been reviewing 16 cases while over 160 firms are now seeking to enter this space and considering submitting applications for a crypto exchange license. Of these 16 companies, 12 have withdrawn their applications while the FSA rejected one. Remaining three exchanges now await a final decision.