According to numbers disclosed by the Financial Services Agency’s (FSA) Counseling Office for Financial Services Users on Friday, the authority fielded a total of 3,559 enquiries about cryptocurrencies during Q1 2018. That figure is up over 3 times from that of the final quarter of 2017 with a total of 1,141 enquiries at the time, underlining the frenetic growth in interest in cryptocurrencies.
36 percent of the total inquiries related to general questions whereas 29 percent, a little over 1,000 queries related to their administration (regulation). A further 23 percent of those questions pertained to specific crypto-related transactions and individual contracts.
The numbers represent a similar growth trend in consumers’ interest in cryptocurrencies, as revealed during a recent cryptocurrency exchange study group meeting hosted by the FSA in late April this year.
Citing data [PDF] gathered and released by Japan’s Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA), the agency saw a total of 2,679 broad inquiries filed in 2017 by general consumers broadly on cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs), up from 847 in 2016, 440 in 2015 and a relatively mere 186 in 2014.
According to the FSA’s own figures, taken from a survey of 17 domestic cryptocurrency exchanges, the country has some 3.5 million active cryptocurrency traders as of figures released in early April. A majority of those traders are aged between 20 and 40 years, with a third of the group in their 30s. Bitcoin trading leads the way, reaching $97 billion in 2017, a striking increase from a trivial $22 million in 2014. Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin all figure among the most traded cryptocurrencies in Japan after Bitcoin.
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https://www.ccn.com/japanese-regulator-sees-sharp-spike-in-cryptocurrency-enquiries-in-q1-2018/