Japanese Police Arrest ‘Teenage Litecoin Exchange Operator’
Japanese police officers have arrested a teenage high schooler on suspicions of operating an illegal Litecoin (LTC) exchange.
Per Manichi Press, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Cyber Crime Control Division charged a male aged 18 with violating the Payment Services Act on March 4.
Officers said the unnamed teenager is a third-year high school student who lives in Miyakonojo, a city in Miyazaki Prefecture.
The teenager, police said, earned around $20,000 in fees from trades conducted on his platform.
Police said they had sent the teenager’s case to prosecutors, and believe he ran a crypto trading platform.
They think the high schooler bought and sold LTC coins to other pupils and older adults alike.
Officers said at least 30 customers had already been identified – 20 of whom are “teenagers.”
The teenaged suspect faces charges of operating a “virtual currency exchange business without registration.”
Japanese crypto exchange operators must obtain permits from the regulatory Financial Services Agency (FSA).
This is a long and complicated process that only a handful of heavily backed firms and IT startups have managed to complete.
As such, officers think illegal exchanges are now operating online, using social media networks as advertising channels.
Police said the male student “solicited customers on Twitter [X]” and “repeatedly bought and sold Litecoin tokens.”
Officers said the teenager was active on his platform “between July and September 2023.”
They also said that, among others, transactions included a PayPay payment of approximately $400 to “two teenage high school students” to buy Litecoin.
In August of the same year, police said the suspect received about $166 from “a female office worker in her 40s” in exchange for LTC
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