Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase plans to obtain a license for the trade of digital assets in Japan. This is with reference to the head of Department of internal policy of the exchange Impresa Mike (Mike Lempres) writes the Nikkei Asian Review.
According to Impresa, consideration of the application and dialogue with the financial services Agency (FSA) “run smoothly”. He added that Coinbase “intends to bring the matter to an end” and expects to receive a positive decision of the FSA next year.
Despite the high percentage of failures — this year, the Agency has not approved a single one of the 16 submitted applications, Lempres sure that the tight control by the authorities of Japan will play into the hands of Coinbase. The exchange keeps most of the funds in offline cold wallets, which significantly reduces the probability of success of direct cyber attacks:
“The government of Japan focuses on safety. It’s good for us”.
The main obstacle to Coinbase may be the requirement for FSA to use in Japan the same system as in USA. This would facilitate the monitoring of transactions, but at the same time, would increase the risk of hacking:
“We have everything we need to protect our assets […] in the United States […] and it will be difficult to realize what we are doing now in the United States, Japan and other countries.”
This year, Japan was hit by two large-scale cyber attacks on cryptocurrency exchanges: in January, the attackers withdrew purses Coincheck NEM tokens for $400 million; three weeks ago the hacking has been a licensed Zaif platform.
