Japanese exchanges, retailers lift 1-day suspension on bitcoin services

Digital currency exchanges and merchants in Japan have resumed bitcoin deposits and withdrawals on Monday, one day after suspending the services over fears of a network split.

Coincheck was the first the reopen on Sunday, Nikkei Asian Review reported. Bitbank, one of the largest exchanges in the country, restarted bitcoin deposits and withdrawals on Monday afternoon, followed by Zaif and Fisco Cryptocurrency Exchange, and then Bitcoin Japan.

Bitflyer, Japan’s largest bitcoin exchange by volume, opted not to suspend its bitcoin service.

The exchanges that shut down their services are members of the Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association (JCBA), which announced last week that its members will halt bitcoin-related transactions on their respective platforms on August 1 at 00:00 Japan time in anticipation of a network hard fork.