Tokyo — Japan’s financial regulator has ordered Coincheck to get its act together after hackers stole $530m worth of digital money from its exchange, jolting the nation’s cryptocurrency market in one of the biggest cyber heists. The theft highlights the vulnerabilities in trading an asset that global policy makers are struggling to regulate — and the broader risks for Japan as it aims to leverage the fintech industry to stimulate economic growth. The Financial Services Agency (FSA) said on Monday it had ordered improvements to operations at Tokyo-based Coincheck, which on Friday suspended trading in all cryptocurrencies except bitcoin after hackers stole ¥58bn ($534m) of NEM coins, among the most popular digital currencies in the world. Coincheck said on Sunday it would return about 90% with internal funds, though it has yet to figure out how or when. Japan started to require cryptocurrency exchange operators to register with the government only in April 2017, allowing pre-existing ...
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