Japan and Portugal announce approval of new cryptocurrency exchanges in the nations.
Portugal has approved two exchanges so far, while Japan has allowed Coinbase to function within the country.
Japan Approves Coinbase
Coinbase can finally start operations in Japan as the country’s top financial regulator has approved the organization within the nation.
As of this approval, Coinbase hosts five cryptocurrencies for trading. These include Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), and Steller Luman (XLM).
Financial Services Agency (FSA) is the organization that approved Coinbase’s new Japanese subsidiary under the new Fund Settlement Act.
Related Reading | Bank of Japan Set to Begin Experimenting with CBDC
Coinbase has been trying to get Japanese approval since 2018. So that they can ensure compliance with all laws, the process involved the company working hand-in-hand with the FSA.
Back in 2018, Coinbase joined the Japan Virtual and Crypto Exchange Association (JVCEA) as a second-class member. Now that they have got approval from the FSA, their membership has upgraded to first-class.
Portugal Approves Two Cryptocurrency Exchanges
Banco de Portugal, the country’s central bank, allows Mind the Coin and Criptoloja to function as cryptocurrency exchanges.
Criptoloja is the first 100% Portuguese company that allows users to buy or sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The organization is situated in Lisbon, the country’s capital.
Mind the Coin will be providing trading options for Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Monero (XMR).
Related Reading | Asia Broadband Forays into Crypto with Gold-backed Token and Exchange
The central bank handles the registration of Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), and makes sure they are in compliance with laws related to money laundering and terrorist financing.
Banco de Portugal’s supervision regarding virtual assets service providers, as determined by Law No 83/2017 of 18 August 2017, is limited to AML/CFT purposes, and does not extend to other areas of a prudential, market conduct or any other nature.
Under this, all companies seeking to register as cryptocurrency exchanges must get their approval. Also, organizations providing crypto transfers and wallet services should get registered under them as well.
Bitcoin Price And Other News
Contrary to what other countries’ are doing with approval of crypto services, banks in South Africa are blocking international cryptocurrency exchanges according to reports.
Users are seeing error messages when using their debit and credit cards on exchanges like Binance.
Bitcoin’s Price hovers over $33k as the cryptocurrency rebounds from a crash to below $30k. It’s up 0.8% at the time of writing, but down almost 14% in the past week.
Here is a chart of the price change in the coin over the past few months:
Bitcoin enjoys an up trend after the crash | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView
BTC seems to be going up after the crash to $29k yesterday. However, it’s hard to say if it will continue this trend or go down again.
