Coincheck mona3/21/2023 ![]() ![]() The sudden popularity of Bitcoin and 1,600+ other digital coins caught an eye of hackers and cybercriminals in recent years, as they quickly realized that unregulated and often poorly-managed trading platforms for cryptos are an easy target. These entities have been hacked at least six times and lost nearly $1 billion worth of cryptocurrency in the first nine months of the year, CipherTrace report shows. ![]() The list was compiled via info from the exchanges and only includes coins handled by at least three member groups.Any chain is only as strong as its weakest link - and when it comes to the blockchain, this link seems to lie with exchanges and trading platforms. When it comes to the most traded cryptocurrencies by transaction amount on member exchanges, JVCEA’s update shows the top 10 coins: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum’s Ether (ETH), Ripple (XRP), NEM (XEM), Qtum (QTUM), Basic Attention Token (BAT), Stellar (XLM), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), MonaCoin (MONA), and Litecoin (LTC), in that order. “We’re proud of the strong engagement from the Japanese community, who have led exciting initiatives, such as enabling Symbol (XYM) payments at local events this April.” Will Japan’s favorite coins enjoy even wider acceptance? He added that NEM recently was among the first blockchain to be represented at FINSUM, one of Japan’s leading Fintech conferences. “The strength of our team and network of strategic partners in Japan ensure that we continue to expand our presence in the country,” David Mansell, NEM’s chief operating officer, told Forkast.News. One example of the trend toward normalizing crypto in the eyes of concerned investors is the recently announced marketing partnership between NEM and Nikkei Sangyo Kokokusha, which is part of Japan’s financial media giant, Nikkei Group. On the other, institutional adoption made crypto feel safer to the average investor. On the one hand, this meant individual adoption was set back. ![]() The peer-to-peer crypto that had eliminated the need for third-party financial institutions was being regulated by the same. Tokyo and other city centers, which had enjoyed a proliferation of independent Bitcoin ATMs, active merchant adoption and OTC trading, now found themselves facing licensing fees and new tax requirements. In October the same year, with updated regulations and classifications previously issued for virtual asset service providers (VASPs), Japan’s Financial Services Authority granted JVCEA self-regulatory status, effectively allowing the association to govern member exchanges, setting a new standard for cryptocurrency regulation in Japan. Though Coincheck refunded customers afterward, the exchange came under extreme criticism from investors as well as government officials, and Japan’s regulatory landscape would change dramatically soon after. The hack was later revealed to have been enabled by the exchange storing crypto insecurely in a single hot wallet. JVCEA, a “self-regulating cryptocurrency initiative,” was formed in the wake of the infamous January 2018 Coincheck hack, which resulted in the loss of US$530 million in the form of NEM (XEM) tokens. Though 200,000 of the coins were later located, the estimated US$450 million in losses not only rendered Gox insolvent but also badly shook investors’ faith in the still-nascent industry. Gox, a Tokyo cryptocurrency exchange launched in 2010 that saw 850,000 Bitcoins go missing before shutting down in April 2014. Japan’s crypto scene flowered early, but investors experienced repeated trauma.įirst came Mt. So is Japan’s crypto deposits surge a turning point and harbinger of longer-term trends? More regulatory certainty, significant partnerships In a February Statista Global Consumer Survey of 74 countries, Japan had among the smallest proportion of respondents - just 4% - saying they used crypto, and Japan tied with Denmark for dead last in the world when it came to crypto adoption. But in a country where cash remains popular, questions remain about whether the recent spike in Japan’s crypto adoption would continue rising. Some analysts pointed to President Joe Biden’s recently passed US$1.9 trillion Covid-19 stimulus package boosting Bitcoin’s bull run, which lured more Japanese investment into the nation’s crypto market. The amount is nearly seven times that of last year’s crypto deposits for the same month. The Japan Virtual and Crypto assets Exchange Association (JVCEA), an industry group that includes 29 domestic cryptocurrency exchanges and derivatives traders, disclosed yesterday that the nation’s virtual currency deposits hit a record high in March, soaring to 1.41 trillion yen, or about US$13 billion. ![]()
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