Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun reported Saturday that the Financial Services Agency (FSA) is holding closed talks with “experts” about cracking down on Bitcoin and crypto in Japan. Some residents are bullish on the news, as they hope for tax relief via potential legal amendments. Their hopes and skyrocketing centralized adoption in Japan hinge, in part, on the buzz that followed Trump’s re-election in the United States.
Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun reported early Saturday (JST) that the country’s financial regulator may be moving to crack down on crypto. In view of reining in unregistered peer-to-peer use (ironically, the whole point of Bitcoin in the first place), the Financial Services Agency (FSA) is reportedly in closed-door talks with “experts” about changing the legal system when it comes to virtual assets.
‘Unregistered’ crypto use targeted as investment skyrockets in Japan
In light of the discussions, amendments could be made to the Payment Services Act and the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. The report notes that as centralized investment in crypto is “rapidly increasing” there’s a fly in the state’s soup: unregistered intermediaries and individuals trading crypto without Big Bro’s permission.
To help capture Satoshi’s pesky peer-to-peer creation bringing economic freedom to the masses, the Japanese political machine is reportedly considering stiffer penalties for “unregistered” use, and requiring “crypto asset issuers to disclose details of their business operations and stocks.”
Crypto accounts opened in Japan have grown 3.5X over the last five years. Source: Yomiuri Shimbun.
Public sentiment split with potential Bitcoin tax overhaul and spreading Trump mania
On the flip side, some normie investors seem pretty happy. One issue the Japanese public has their eyes on is lowering the country’s astronomically high taxation of cryptocurrencies. As Cryptopolitan has previously reported, there has been political discourse about a separate 20% tax rate for virtual assets. Currently, Bitcoin investors in Japan can be taxed as high as 55% on their gains.
The Yomiuri report notes that the tax overhaul may be a result of the secret FSA talks, presumably due to stricter laws allowing crypto to be seen as a more trustworthy asset class.
Still, the report may be confusing for some. Just this week, headlines in the nation have been promoting the idea that regulations may actually become less cumbersome for so-called intermediaries and other smaller businesses involved with crypto.
The rub? They’ll have to be supervised by a registered exchange to enjoy the benefits of proposed lightened restrictions for NFTs and in-game/special currencies.
Further coloring the overhaul issue is the Trump hype seeping into the psyche of investors in Japan, who fear the nation may lag behind “crypto-friendly” regimes like they imagine the U.S. to be. “Japan can no longer afford to keep a lid on Bitcoin,” one social media user noted on X, referencing Donald Trump. “Tax reform should be implemented with an eye toward promoting its use.”
The Yomiuri Shimbun report mentioned the fact that the U.S. President-elect promised to make America a “Bitcoin superpower,” and noted the launch of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). But advocates of permissionless peer-to-peer (P2P) use of crypto as described in the Bitcoin whitepaper and those who think the Japanese state has better things to do than huff the flatulence of Musk and Mango Messiah, remain unimpressed.
“A bad premonition,” another commenter tweeted.
The FSA plans to reach a decision about the matter within fiscal 2024 year, as per the report, and work with the Financial System Council in 2025 if stronger regulations are deemed necessary.
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