The police learned that the man converted a small amount of the missing NEM coins into another form of cryptocurrency called litecoin through a site on the darknet, which can only be accessed through special anonymity software, the source said Saturday. The man was aware the NEM had been stolen from Coincheck.
About ¥58 billion ($533 million) worth of NEM was stolen on Jan. 26, with more than ¥500 million worth of it likely to have since been converted into bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, according to data security experts.
The NEM was split up and dispersed to several digital addresses.
The Metropolitan Police Department’s cybercrime division, which questioned the man on a voluntary basis, suspects several people were involved in converting the stolen NEM and is monitoring darknet sites and NEM transactions to identify them, the source said.
Following the massive theft of the digital money, data security specialists found an account believed to have been used by one of the perpetrators to trade the stolen NEM on the darknet.
Their analysis of money transfers from the account showed that NEM cryptocurrency worth more than ¥500 million was withdrawn on more than 200 occasions between early Thursday and Friday evening, based on the exchange rate at the time of the hacking attack.
Based on the current exchange rate, the converted currency is worth over ¥300 million, they said.
On 14 October, the Minister in charge of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, Yoshitaka Sakurada was questioned by opposition party members in the Japanese Diet. In one particular exchange with Constitutional Democratic Party member Masato Imai he made a surprising revelation. (soranews24.com) 
A Japanese high court on Wednesday overturned a lower court decision and acquitted a tattooist for operating without a medical license, ruling the process is not a medical practice. (Kyodo) 
Between 260,000 and 340,000 foreign workers are estimated to flow into Japan in the five years from next April through an envisioned immigration control law revision aimed at dealing with the country's serious labor crunch, government sources said Tuesday. (Japan Today) 
Public broadcaster NHK announced Wednesday the lineup for its annual New Year’s Eve music extravaganza, but K-pop group BTS — under fire recently for a controversial T-shirt worn by one of its members — was not included. (Japan Times) 
Japan's economy contracted for the first time in 2 quarters. Government officials say a string of natural disasters in the period dented exports and consumer spending.
(NHK) 
SoftBank Group Corp. is continuing to push money into one of its biggest investments: WeWork Cos. (Japan Times) 
Japan will help countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations groom 80,000 manufacturing and digital industry specialists over five years, part of a broader effort by Tokyo toward cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.
(Nikkei) 
Japan's government has projected up to 47,000 foreign workers could come to the country in fiscal 2019 under proposed revisions to the immigration law.
(NHK) 
The dark side lurking within the Kabukicho red-light district of Shinjuku Ward — today, something like a mix of a theme park and a strip club — can easily get lost amid its blinking lights and the roar of Godzilla. (tokyoreporter.com) 
Health officials in Japan say nearly 2,000 people have contracted rubella, or German measles, this year.
(NHK)