Japan’s FSA registers further drop in enquiries about virtual currencies

Maria Nikolova

In the quarter to end-December 2018, the Japanese regulator received 788 enquiries about Bitcoin and its likes, down from 1,231 in the preceding quarter.

The wave of enthusiasm and curiosity around cryptocurrencies appears to be losing its force in Japan. This is indicated by the latest data provided by Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA).

The FSA Counseling Office for Financial Services Users handled 788 enquiries concerning virtual currencies in the quarter to the end of December 2018. This is markedly down from the 1,231 enquiries about cryptos handled in the preceding quarter. Given that he Counseling Office registered 3,559 enquiries about virtual currencies in the first three months of 2018, it is safe to conclude that investors are asking about cryptos more rarely and this trend has become more visible over the past several quarters.

Let’s note that the biggest part of the enquiries were general questions about this type of investments.

Last year saw tightening of the regulatory environment for virtual currency exchanges in Japan. There were a number of business improvement orders issued. GMO Coin, the virtual currency business of GMO Internet Inc. (TYO:9449), was among the companies targeted by such orders. GMO Coin was instructed to establish an effective system risk management system.

In the three months to December 31, 2018, the number of enquiries related to investment products increased to 2,264. This compares to 2,016 such cases handled in the previous quarter. Out of the total, 873 cases (38%) were related to general inquiries and questions.

Across assets, 465 cases (or 20% of the total) related to listed stocks, followed by 203 cases (9%) related to FX, and 178 cases (7%) related to investment trusts.

There were 227 cases concerning fraudulent investment solicitation, including 164 cases with claims about investors having suffered some kind of damage.

Read this next

Digital Assets

Sam Bankman-Fried might see his 25-year sentence halved

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison by a Manhattan court on Thursday. This comes after he was convicted of defrauding customers and investors, with Judge Lewis Kaplan highlighting the potential future risks posed by Bankman-Fried.

Technical Analysis

EURJPY Technical Analysis Report 28 March, 2024

EURJPY currency pair under the bearish pressure after the pair reversed down from the major resistance level 164.25, which also stopped the sharp weekly uptrend at the end of last year,

Digital Assets

BlockDAG’s Presale Hits $9.9M, MultiversX & MINA Price Predictions Show Green

Read about BlockDAG’s promising $10 prediction and insights on MultiversX Price Prediction as MINA’s potential unfolds.

Digital Assets

Rockstar Co-Founder and All-star Line Up Join Advisory Board to Take Metacade into Post Beta Orbit

Metacade, the revolutionary Web3 gaming platform, prepares to streak out of beta with a slew of ground-breaking initiatives that will redefine the way blockchain games are developed.

Retail FX

Prop firm The Funded Trader shuts down, claims relaunch in April

Prop trading firm The Funded Trader has ceased all operations, with claims for a relaunch in the near future.

Digital Assets

Ethereum-Based Tokenized Real Estate Platform USP Launches On Republic

How This Californian Startup Is Revolutionizing Real Estate Investment through Ethereum-Based Tokenization.

Digital Assets

Sui Spikes in Weekly DEX Volume, Joins Top 10 of All Blockchains

March DEX volume on Sui stands at over $2.88B – up more than 49% from February – with decentralized exchange Cetus and wholesale liquidity layer DeepBook leading.

Digital Assets

Prisma Finance suffers $10 million crypto exploit, attack ongoing

Liquid staking protocol Prisma Finance fell victim to a security exploit on March 28, resulting in nearly $10 million in Prisma mkUSD and wrapped stETH being stolen by hackers.

Digital Assets

Masa and LayerZero: Bridging Blockchains for Data Sovereignty

Masa Network is poised to revolutionize the personal data landscape with its upcoming launch as a cross-chain platform, making it accessible on a variety of blockchains right from the start.

<