Japanese cryptocurrency exchanges have been given full license to create their own regulations.

So what’s going on?

Japanese Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Earlier today, the country’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), granted the Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) a self-regulatory status.

The JVCEA is made up of 16 licensed and domestic crypto exchanges. Its members are Bitflyer, Money Partners, Bitbank, Bitpoint, Quoine, SBI Virtual Currencies, Fisco Virtual Currency, BTCbox, Zaif, GMO Coin, Bittrade, Tokyo Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) Exchange (DMM Bitcoin (available on Coinbase)), Bitarg Exchange Tokyo, FTT Corporation, Xtheta Corporation, and Bitocean.

The FSA has declared the body as a “certified fund settlement business association.” With this new status, it puts regulation responsibility in JVCEA’s hands. The body can now police its own exchanges.

Japan’s Cryptocurrency Exchanges

JVCEA can now implement its own rules and guideline for domestic crypto trading. In doing so, it can create measures to protect customer assets and improve security, whilst also curtailing insider trading, theft, and money laundering.

And this is exactly what the body was created to do; to regulate, protect, and give legitimacy to an industry that has suffered major hacks.