Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
The 16 Japanese cryptocurrency exchanges have reported 669 suspected money laundering cases between April and December 2017, says Nikkei Asian Review.
The data was collected after the new legislation, requiring the exchanges to register with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and to keep track of suspicious transactions and money laundering, came into effect last April. The Japanese police did not specify what exactly prompted the exchanges to report those cases, but most likely among the reasons are questionable transactions repeated frequently in a short span of time.
According to the data, the total number of suspected money laundering cases in 2017 in Japan stood at 400 043. Most cases were reported by banks and other financial institutions – 346 595, followed by credit card companies with 15 448 and credit card unions with 13 259.
Currently there are 16 cryptocurrency exchanges registered with the FSA, which has its hands full since the Coincheck heist from this January when hackers made off with NEM coins worth around $530 million. FSA officials paid a visit to the Coincheck premises to conduct an inspection and required a report on the matter, while Coincheck clients said they will file a claim with the court over frozen cryptocurrency withdrawals, following the heist.
Meanwhile, the licensed cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan announced their plans to form a self-regulatory body.
