Major Japanese Brokerage Could Rescue Crypto Exchange Coincheck

Japanese online brokerage firm Monex is reportedly considering a buyout of Tokyo-based Coincheck, the cryptocurrency exchange at the center of the recent $530 million NEM theft.

Japanese financial publication Nikkei is reporting an offer from online brokerage Monex Group to buy a majority stake in cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck. The offer comes ten weeks after the platform suffered an infamous hack that is now seen as the biggest cryptocurrency exchange theft of all time.

Citing sources, Nikkei says Monex is in the process of submitting an offer worth “several billion yen” – a billion yen is approximately 10 million USD – while suggesting that Coincheck is struggling to comply with regulatory requirements and its own recovery effort following January’s theft. The exchange, which has faced lawsuits from disgruntled investors, has been hit by two business improvement orders from the Financial Services Agency (FSA), the country’s financial regulator.

‘The deal with Monex suggests Coincheck deemed it difficult to comply with the regulatory requirements and rebuild its operations without external support’, the report said.

The publication’s claim comes despite the exchange keeping its promise of distributing reparations to users impacted by the NEM theft in mid-March.

Monex shares spiked over 23 percent following the report, the maximum allowed by rules mandated by the Tokyo Stock Exchange to push the company’s overall market cap to 114.3 billion yen ($1.08 billion).

An excerpt from the report added:

The acquisition could put Monex on a fast track to getting a cryptocurrency exchange license by allowing it to build on Coincheck’s client base and information systems

The report adds that both Monex and Coincheck are now seeking the FSA’s approval for the acquisition. If successful, Monex is reportedly bringing in its own management team while current Coincheck executives are expected to step down.

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