“Considering the improvements in the internal control system by Coincheck and progress in making payments, we believe we can obtain approval within two months.”

Monex Group, a Japanese online brokerage firm have said that they will seeking regulatory approval for Coincheck, the cryptocurrency exchange that it purchased for 3.6 billion yen. The Chief Executive Oki Matsumoto spoke at a Tokyo news conference, where he said;The management will be changing as part of the deal; however, the current CEO had nothing but praise for the takeover, calling the startup a pioneer in the crypto exchange industry. He was not put off by the risks that are associated with cryptocurrencies and believed that any risks that they would be faced with would be manageable. Coincheck hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons at the beginning of this year, after it was revealed that it had more than $500 million worth of tokens stolen. This news alone caused the price of a huge number of even the most popular cryptocurrencies tumbling. For the next three years after the takeover, up to half of any combined profits will be paid to any existing shareholders; however, Matsumoto revealed the downside to Monex shareholders is in fact minimal, as the risks will be covered by the potential payments. The current chief executive is due to step down and has said that the company will use internal capital to repay those who had their cryptocurrency stolen in January. The takeover aims to combine the expertise in online brokerage from Monex, with the trading technology from Coincheck, in order to create a completely new integrated financial institution. It is unsure still though what will happen to existing cryptocurrencies. Despite Bitcoin hitting a high of nearly $20,000 in the latter stages of last year, it is now trading at below $7,000. There is hope though this takeover might boost the value, as it jumped up 5% after it was reported that there was potential that this takeover could happen. Watch this space.