Japanese Exchanges to Suspend Bitcoin Trading from Sunday

Tokyo, July 21 (Jiji Press)--Bitcoin trading through Japanese exchanges will be suspended starting on Sunday, instead of Aug. 1 as previously planned, an industry group said Friday. The move comes as a bitcoin protocol split is likely to occur on Sunday, instead of Aug. 1 as previously anticipated, the Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association said. The protocol split could lead to losses of customer assets, the association said. Each of the 13 member exchange operators will decide whether to actually suspend trading or when to resume it. There has been a dispute in the bitcoin industry over how to upgrade the protocol as growing trading volume causes in delays in executing transactions. END