Japan eyes cryptocurrencies as it toughens money laundering laws

TOKYO -- Last year authorities arrived at cryptocurrency exchange operator FSHO's one-room office in a Yokohama business district for an on-site inspection. They discovered multiple suspicious transactions.

The company had overlooked numerous transactions over a short period of time in which the same client converted large amounts of digital currency to cash, a person familiar with the investigation said. Japan's financial regulator, fearing that the funds had found their way to illicit actors, later declined the operator's bid to become a registered exchange, the first such rejection.