Regulations
By Maheen Hernandez
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Institutions Already Lining Up. Several major players didn't wait for the ink to dry.
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Japan's Bet Against Hong Kong and Singapore. Japan isn't doing this in a quiet corner of the global market.
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What the Reclassification Actually Changes. Worth being specific here. Under the current framework, crypto assets in Japan don't sit neatly…
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Japan is moving fast. Starting June 1, the country will let foreign trust-type stablecoins operate as regulated payment instruments — a clean break from years of regulatory…
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The headline number is 20%. That's the proposed flat tax rate on crypto gains, down from a punishing progressive structure that once hit 55% at the top end.
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Several major players didn't wait for the ink to dry. Nomura's digital-asset subsidiary, Laser Digital, and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking have both been running pilots on…
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SBI VC Trade is also exploring services involving USDC under the new stablecoin rules. That's a pretty concrete signal that the new framework isn't theoretical — institutions are…
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The Financial Services Agency's updated framework is what makes all of this possible. It reclassifies qualifying foreign trust-type stablecoins as Electronic Payment Instruments,…
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Japan isn't doing this in a quiet corner of the global market. Hong Kong has already launched spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.
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See also: Japan Opens Its Payment Rails to Foreign Stablecoins Starting June 1
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Japan's pitch is different. It's slower, deeper, and built around a "rules-first but innovation-tolerant" philosophy — a phrase that seems to be circulating among analysts…
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That's a long game. Whether it pays off depends on how fast the reclassification process actually moves and whether the 20% tax proposal clears the legislative process without…
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The US comparison is worth keeping in mind. The SEC approved spot Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024, and the institutional inflows that followed were significant.
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More context: Japans Ruling Party Pushes On-Chain Finance to Protect the Yen
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Analysts tracking the region have drawn comparisons to MiCA, and it's not a bad parallel. Both frameworks lean toward comprehensive rules over piecemeal guidance.
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