Coincheck Inc, a subsidiary of the Japanese financial services giant Monex Group, announced on Tuesday that customers based in Japan are now able to open new accounts and deposit and purchase selected Cryptocurrencies .
Back in January, Coincheck made headlines when it was hacked and had more than $500 million in digital tokens stolen. Since the hack, the cryptocurrency exchange suspended mostly all of its services.
Over the year, the exchange has been gradually reintroducing its services. In February, it resumed withdrawal in Japanese yen (JPY), and it slowly began the remitting and selling of cryptocurrencies between March to June of this year.
From today, customers can now open new accounts and deposit the following cryptocurrencies - Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Furthermore, customers can now purchase ETC, LTC and BTC, in addition to BTC, which was never suspended following the hack.
All of these new services are only available for customers based in Japan. The reintroduction follows the cryptocurrency exchange working to improve its governance and internal control. Before launching the new services today, as with all the services it has reintroduced, Coincheck first seeks confirmation of the technical safety of the products and platform from external experts.
This is no doubt to prevent another hack, which has caused a wave of issues for the company. Specifically, Japan’s Financial Services Agency revealed that it intended to fine Coincheck and severely reprimanded the exchange for its subpar security.
The hack also left the company in desperate need of capital, which allowed the Monex Group to purchase the cryptocurrency exchange. As Finance Magnates reported earlier this year, the deal was worth ¥360 million ($3.2 million).
Will Coincheck Revenues See an Uptick?
The returning of services is good news not only for the exchange but also for the Monex Group as Coincheck has been weighing down the group's revenues since its acquisition. This is because the exchange has only been able to achieve limited revenues due to its restricted service offering post-hack.
As we reported yesterday, in the second quarter of the group’s fiscal year ending March 2019, Coincheck reported a segment loss of ¥600 million. In the first quarter of the group’s fiscal year, the exchange also reported a loss, however, it was slightly less than the second quarter at ¥300 million.
The returning of some of its main services could mean that the cryptocurrency exchange will experience stronger performances in the upcoming quarters. However, how quickly, and if, Coincheck will recover is yet to be seen.
In the statement released today, the exchange also announced that it is planning to resume further services. This includes allowing users to deposit and buy ETH, XEM, LSK, XRP and FCT. The exchange also wants to re-introduce Leverage transactions for new positions, affiliate service, JPY depositing through convenience stores and more. These services will only be re-added once they have been confirmed safe.
