Press Conference by Taro Aso, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and Minister of State for Financial Services
(Excerpt)
(Friday, February 2, 2018, 8:34 am to 8:39 am)
[Opening remarks:]
On January 26, the Coincheck, a quasi-virtual currency broker dealer, got unauthorized access to their IT system and some of their virtual currency outflowed. In accordance with Article 63-15, Paragraph 1 of the Payment Services Act, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) start the on-site inspections of Coincheck today (February 2). On January 30, we requested that virtual currency broker dealers as well as quasi-broker dealers other than Coincheck should conduct urgent self-check of their IT system risk management regimes. We subsequently issued an order for the submission of reports about the same matter of the request in accordance with the Payment Services Act.
[Questions and answers:]
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Q.
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I would like to ask about the on-site inspection of Coincheck. An order for business improvement was issued and a report was to be submitted by the 13th of February, but the on-site inspection went ahead today prior to that; could you please explain the reason for that?
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A.
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We have begun an on-site inspection for the sake of ensuring user protection. For more details, please ask the officials.
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Q.
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Although it has been a week since the incident happened, Coincheck has not offered any explanation to users regarding specific compensation. Although this matter is still ongoing, what are your views on this response?
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A.
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The investigation is still underway, and for the moment the FSA has asked that Coincheck respond properly in keeping with laws, regulations and agreements, so we must check up on this.
