TOKYO--Japan's ruling party has decided not to recommend legislation for regulating bitcoin, a party official in charge of discussions over the virtual currency said Thursday.
"We decided not to do anything by law for the time being," said Takuya Hirai, the chair of the Liberal Democratic Party's panel on information technology.
Mr. Hirai was speaking at a committee meeting on Thursday discussing the party's take on the crypto-currency. The committee will announce its view on bitcoin later in the day.
Policy makers have been discussing how bitcoin should be overseen amid concern over how the virtual currency may be used for money-laundering and other illegal purposes and its possible vulnerability to hacking.
Tokyo-based Mt. Gox, once the world's largest bitcoin exchange, applied for bankruptcy protection in late February and announced the disappearance of 850,000 bitcoins -- about 7% of the world's total -- worth more than $470 million at the time.
Mt. Gox's demise amplified authorities' concerns about the stability of bitcoin, which isn't backed by any central bank.
Write to Takashi Mochizuki at takashi.mochizuki@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-19-140105ET
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June 18, 2014 at 11:12PM
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