Japan’s FSA officially recognizes crypto exchange group JVCEA as self-regulatory body

The Japanese Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) has been approved by the country’s financial regulator as a self-regulatory industry body, CoinDesk reported.

In April 2018, 16 crypto exchanges, licensed by the Financial Services Agency (FSA), came together to establish a self-regulating organization in a bid to restore market confidence following the major hack suffered by Coincheck in January.

In a notice dated October 24, the FSA announced that it has accredited the JVCEA as a "certified fund settlement business association.” This essentially means that the JVCEA would be able to set rules for domestic crypto exchanges and take action in case of violations.

In an official statement, the JVCEA said (loosely translated), “we have enforced self-regulation rules on the same date and officially launched all work including self-regulatory work.”

“With the acquisition of accreditation, we will continue to make further efforts to create an industry that you trust from everyone who uses virtual currency with members.”

Last week, Reuters reported that the group may require its member exchanges to hold separate bank deposits and government bonds in order to ensure that these exchanges have adequate funds to compensate users in the event of a hack.

In a separate announcement on Wednesday, the FSA also highlighted the growing interest among companies to apply for a cryptocurrency exchange license. The regulator said it has updated and released the documents required for the license.

In addition, the FSA also said that it will conduct on-site inspections after the review of the written submissions.