TOKYO, March 8 (Reuters) - Japanese regulators on Thursday issued punishment notices to several cryptocurrency exchanges and forced others to halt business, in an effort to shore up consumer protection after the $530 million theft of digital money from Coincheck.

The Financial Services Agency issued business improvement orders to Coincheck and six other exchanges. It ordered the suspension of operations at Bit Station and FSHO for one month starting Thursday, the FSA said in a statement.

The FSA said Coincheck lacked a proper internal control system for risks such as money laundering and terrorism financing. (Reporting by Taiga Uranaka; Editing by Chris Gallagher)