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Bitcoin Slips as Japan to Check Cryptocurrency Exchanges after Hack

Published 01/29/2018, 04:50 AM
Updated 01/29/2018, 04:50 AM
© Reuters.  Bitcoin slips as Japan to check cryptocurrency exchanges after hack

© Reuters. Bitcoin slips as Japan to check cryptocurrency exchanges after hack

Investing.com - The price of digital currency bitcoin slid on Monday after Japan’s financial regulator said it will check cryptocurrency exchanges after hackers stole $530 million from Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck last week.

Bitcoin was trading at $11,383 by 04:49 AM ET (09:49 AM GMT) on the Bitfinex exchange.

Ethereum, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, was last at $1,186 on the Bitfinex exchange.

Meanwhile, Ripple's XRP token was trading at $1.29 on the Poloniex exchange.

Japan’s Financial Services Agency said Monday that it will inspect all cryptocurrency exchanges and ordered improvements to Coincheck, which suspended trading on Friday after hackers stole $530 million worth of virtual coins in one of the biggest-ever thefts of digital money.

Coincheck said in a statement on Sunday that it will refund its customers around 46 billion yen ($425m), which covers nearly 90% of the coins lost in the attack.

Around 260,000 customers were reported to be affected by the theft.

The FSA said it has yet to confirm whether Coincheck had sufficient funds for the reimbursement.

The theft has underlined security and regulatory concerns around digital currencies amid an exponential increase in demand and price during recent months.

In 2014 MtGox, another Tokyo exchange, collapsed after admitting that almost half a billion dollars had been stolen from its network.

Many counties are clamping down on cryptocurrency trading.

Regulators in South Korea - where speculation on cryptocurrencies is rife - have said the government will ban the use of anonymous bank accounts in cryptocurrency trading from Jan. 30.

Chinese authorities banned initial coin offerings and shut down local trading platforms last year.

The Philippines' Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday it is drawing up rules to regulate cryptocurrency transactions to protect investors and reduce the risk of fraud.

But Japan has taken a different approach, becoming last year the first country to introduce government regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges in a bid to leverage the fintech industry to stimulate economic growth.

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