Japan's Diet passed the FIEA amendment on July 15, making crypto a financial product under the same law that governs stocks and bonds. Insider trading rules, tougher penalties, and disclosure duties arrive with it, and the preconditions for a 20% flat tax and domestic crypto ETFs are now cleared. Enforcement is expected in fiscal 2027, with the tax change from January 2028. Meanwhile, the US CLARITY Act remains stuck in the Senate.
Japan's finance minister has again signaled support for domestic crypto ETFs. But under current law crypto is not an eligible asset for a Japanese fund, so no spot ETF can be built. The bill that fixes that is still in the upper house. Here is the honest answer to the three questions global investors ask: when, which tokens, and at what tax rate.
Japan's three megabanks, Mizuho, MUFG and SMBC, are jointly issuing a single-brand trust-type stablecoin. We unpack why it skips the 1-million-yen cap, why banks are building a tool that could drain their own deposits, and how it lines up with Japan's revised Payment Services Act, the US GENIUS Act, EU MiCA and the digital yen.
Japan's Business-Value-Based Financing Promotion Act took effect on May 25, 2026, creating an enterprise value charge that lets companies pledge their whole business, including intangibles and future cash flow. We compare it with US venture debt and Korean and Singaporean IP finance, and ask whether banks have the skills to use it.
On May 19, Japan's ruling LDP unveiled a policy proposal calling for stablecoins and tokenized deposits to be treated as national financial infrastructure — and added to PM Takaichi's Big-Boned Policy in June. We compare Japan's approach with the Web3 hubs of Singapore, Hong Kong and the UAE.
