The Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) announced that five deemed exchanges that are or will be applying for registration as cryptocurrency exchange operators (Type II members) joined the association on February 1, 2019.

The five new members are: Money Forward Financial, a subsidiary of Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE)-listed Money Forward, which provides wealth management applications; OKCoin Japan, a Japanese subsidiary of the OK Group, which operates OKCoin, a major overseas cryptocurrency exchange; Mercury, a subsidiary of TSE-listed CERES INC., which primarily engages in the point media business; FXcoin, a startup founded by a former Deutsche Bank employee; and, DeCurret, a cryptocurrency trading and settlement service provider established in January 2018.

Money Forward is reported to be aiming to launch cryptocurrency exchange services by the March-end 2019, and, according to CERES, Mercury has been applying for cryptocurrency exchange registration since January 2018.

The JVCEA, Japan’s self-regulatory cryptocurrency body, had only accepted membership from Type I members who have been registered as cryptocurrency exchanges. However, the association started accepting applications for Type II members on November 29, 2018. On January 4, the association announced the addition of the following five companies: Coincheck, a subsidiary of major online securities brokerage Monex Group; everybody’s bitcoin Inc., a subsidiary of Japan’s e-commerce giant Rakuten; LastRoots, a company in which major online securities firm SBI Holdings have invested and operating c0ban exchange; LVC, which is engaged in the cryptocurrency business of major SNS provider LINE; and, COINAGE, a subsidiary of UNITED, which is engaged in the advertising technology and game businesses.

More deemed exchanges that have not completed registration with the Financial Services Agency (FSA) are expected to join the self-regulatory body in the future.

The JVCEA is a self-regulatory cryptocurrency body set up on April 23, 2018 with the aim of establishing industry-wide self-regulation among cryptocurrency exchange operators. The JVCEA received the status of a self-regulatory organization from the FSA in October. Chaired by Mr. Taizen Okuyama, CEO of Money Partners Group, which is engaged in the foreign exchange trading business, the JVCEA currently consists of 26 cryptocurrency-related companies, including SBI Virtual Currencies, a cryptocurrency exchange operated by SBI Holdings and GMO Coin, a cryptocurrency exchange operated by GMO Financial Holdings, which is engaged in the online infrastructure business. *This article was written by Fisco