13 Japanese Bitcoin Exchanges will [Temporarily] Suspend Services on August 1

A number of Japanese bitcoin exchanges will temporarily suspend bitcoin services including deposits and withdrawals as a precautionary measure for the possibility of a split of the Bitcoin blockchain on August 1.
In an announcement, members of the Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association (JCBA) confirmed they will suspend bitcoin trading from midnight July 31 in the lead-up to a possible Bitcoin protocol split – expected to occur at 9:00 AM local time on August 1.

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Underlining the “maintenance of customer assets” as their highest priority, a total of 13 digital currency exchange operators wrote:

[W]e decided to temporarily stop accepting bitcoin deposits and withdrawals at each exchange due to the possibility of the branching (split) of the bitcoin protocol.

The list of thirteen exchanges are:

Bit Bank Co.,
Bit Point Japan
QUOINE Co., Ltd.
Fiscalco Virtual Currency Exchange
Coin Check Co., Ltd.
BTC Box Co., Ltd.
Tech Bureau Co., Ltd.
GMO-Z.com Coin Co.,
CAMPFIRE
Bit Trade Co., Ltd.
Bike Limited Co., Ltd.
Tokyo Bitcoin Co., Ltd.
Everyone’s bit coin Co., Ltd.

The exchanges also warned that any possibility of a hard fork occurring sooner than August 1 would see the suspension date and time advanced to an earlier date, depending on the situation. Notably, the exchanges added:

Notably, the exchanges added:

We plan to accept bitcoins and restart withdrawals by 16:00 on August 4,2017 (Japan time).

Further, the exchanges insisted that all other services of digital currencies other than bitcoin will continue during the suspension. “We will provide, as usual, the acceptance and withdrawal of virtual currencies and legal currencies other than bitcoin.”