Japan’s SBI Group Announces Crypto Exchange Launch Delay

Japan isn’t just another country that has a half-hearted relationship with the cryptocurrency market. As you might have already read, Japan has gone all-in when it comes to making Bitcoin a part of Japan’s economic fabric. Making major moves and putting Bitcoin under the spotlight, Japan is miles ahead of other major nations when it comes Bitcoin acceptance. However, Japan isn’t approaching anything related to Bitcoin recklessly, something that the financial services conglomerate SBI Group has proven. Announcing that it’s postponing the launch of a planned cryptocurrency exchange, it’s clear that it’s not going to push forward until security measures are considered airtight.
Financial services – SBI Group included – have been warming up to cryptocurrency in Japan, more so in 2018 than ever before. For that reason, a crypto exchange launch has been coming. But, plans are not going to press ahead until it’s considered totally secure trading platform. Announcing the delay through an official statement, SBI Group said, “We decided that it will take some extra time to further strengthen security measures, assets management, and customer management systems to ensure the protection of cryptocurrency exchange users”.
The original plans for a cryptocurrency exchange – dubbed SBI Virtual Currencies – were announced back in October. Following this, SBI Group announced also a forthcoming partnership with Huobi – a leading Bitcoin trading platform – which would help launch the exchange in 2018. Security represented not only the highest priority for SBI Group, but seemingly the biggest stumbling block. Motivated in part by the huge $534 million hack of Coincheck – one of the biggest crypto exchanges in Japan – back in January, SBI Group has taken a step back to readdress security measures. Described as the biggest theft in financial market history, it’s forced Japan’s FSA to increase the level of scrutiny surrounding cryptocurrency exchanges.
The launch of SBI Virtual Currencies marks the next step in Japan’s cryptocurrency revolution, but it’s not going to arrive on schedule. SBI is rightfully taking additional time to address security measures related to customer asset management and computer system safety. Expect to hear more about the launch of this new crypto exchange in the coming weeks.