2026年の日本の暗号資産規制：ルールの中身と東京に拠点を置いた企業

FTX collapsed in November 2022. Customers of its Japanese unit were among the first anywhere to recover their funds, because a 2017 FSA rule required every registered exchange to hold customer assets apart from its own. Other regulators had called that rule excessive.

In the United States, the years after that were spent on enforcement. Exchanges were sued and Wells notices went out while founders tried to guess which tokens would be treated as securities. Europe produced MiCA. Firms that work under it tend to say the text is clear and the compliance load heavy. Japan’s exchange rules have been on the books since 2017 and were revised after each failure. Web3 appears by name in the government’s economic growth strategy.

How the framework is built

The Financial Services Agency (FSA) registers crypto-asset exchange service providers under the Payment Services Act. A registered exchange has to segregate customer assets, hold minimum capital reserves and submit to regular audits. The requirements date from 2017. They were tightened after the Coincheck hack in 2018 and have been updated several times since.

Stablecoins. The stablecoin law passed in June 2023. It defines “electronic payment instruments” and limits issuance to licensed banks, fund transfer service providers and trust companies. It was operating within months. Comparable legislation in the United States sat in Congress for years. Circle’s USDC and other global stablecoins have since looked for compliance paths into Japan, where the law already says what a stablecoin is and who may issue one.

DAOs. Amendments to the Limited Liability Company (LLC) Act in 2024 allow a decentralized autonomous organization to obtain legal personality. It can sign contracts and hold assets without its members taking on unlimited personal liability. The governance requirements are still prescriptive by crypto-native standards.

Self-regulation. The Japan Virtual and Crypto Assets Exchange Association (JVCEA) and the Japan Cryptoasset Business Association (JCBA) are industry bodies with statutory authority delegated by the FSA, an arrangement used elsewhere in Japanese financial services. Listing standards, advertising guidelines and custody protocols can be changed in months rather than waiting for the Diet.

The tax question

Individual profits from crypto-asset transactions are taxed as “miscellaneous income” at up to 55%. Companies holding tokens on their balance sheets have faced mark-to-market taxation at the end of each fiscal year, which means paying tax on gains they had not realized.

The corporate side was partly fixed in 2024. Self-issued tokens and certain third-party tokens were exempted from mark-to-market treatment. The Liberal Democratic Party’s Web3 Project Team has used its successive Web3 White Papers to call for crypto-asset gains to be reclassified as capital gains at a flat 20%, the rate that applies to equities and other financial products.

The FSA has signaled it intends to treat crypto-assets as “financial products” under a revised Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA). That would bring insider-trading restrictions and disclosure requirements with it, along with the 20% capital gains rate. Institutional investors and wealthy individuals have said they want that rate before they allocate.

Industry estimates put tens of billions of dollars in dormant positions that would become active at 20%.

Who has moved to Tokyo

Animoca Brands, the Hong Kong-based Web3 group, set up a Japan subsidiary to reach the domestic gaming and entertainment market and chose a compliance-first entry. Circle, the issuer of USDC, has pursued entry through the stablecoin framework. Ripple has deepened its partnership with SBI Holdings and uses Japan’s payment infrastructure as a base for cross-border settlement in Asia.

On the domestic side, Sony launched its blockchain platform Soneium together with Startale Labs. NTT has put money into Web3 infrastructure for digital identity and IoT. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) issued Japan’s first bank-backed stablecoin. SBI Holdings has a digital asset division that covers custody, exchange and fund management, and Toyota-affiliated entities have explored blockchain for supply chain provenance.

Other jurisdictions

United States. SEC actions against Coinbase, Binance and dozens of token projects made legal risk the main variable in most Web3 business decisions. The FIT21 Act drew a line between SEC and CFTC jurisdiction, but implementation has been uneven. Institutional investors and multinationals still price a compliance risk premium into US operations that they do not apply to Japan.

European Union. MiCA was the first comprehensive crypto framework at a supranational level. It covers asset classification, stablecoin reserves, exchange licensing and market abuse. Implementation across 27 member states has been patchy, and compliance costs have pushed some smaller projects to relocate.

Singapore. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) licensed crypto firms early and is regarded as a sophisticated regulator. Tighter limits on retail crypto marketing and trading, plus the collapses of Three Arrows Capital and Terraform Labs, have cooled its standing as a hub. Japan’s consumer market is roughly three times larger, with a deeper institutional capital base.

Dubai/UAE. The Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) and the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) have drawn Web3 companies with speed and flexibility. The track record is short and the domestic market small. Anyone making ten-year infrastructure commitments has to take a view on long-term policy stability.

What is actually running

Most corporate blockchain work worldwide between 2018 and 2023 ended at the pilot stage. Three Japanese deployments have gone further.

Sony’s Soneium, built with Startale Labs, is meant to serve as blockchain infrastructure across Sony’s gaming, music and digital collectibles businesses. NTT’s work is on digital identity: decentralized credential systems applied to telecommunications and public services. MUFG’s stablecoin and tokenized deposit programs are changing how the bank handles settlement.

Social impact

Regulated stablecoins can work as cheap remittance and payment rails for the millions of foreign workers in Japan who currently pay high fees to send money home. Blockchain-based identity systems can reach people the banks do not serve.

A DAO that can hold assets and sign contracts under Japanese law can run a local revitalization project, or a cross-border impact investment vehicle.

Academic records, professional certifications and impact measurement data can be issued as verifiable credentials on-chain. That cuts fraud and makes them portable across borders, and Japan’s rules on digital assets give such systems a legal footing.

For business leaders

Sony, NTT, MUFG, SBI and Toyota-affiliated entities run production blockchain systems and buy tools, services and integration work for them.

If the FIEA reclassification passes, the tax rate on crypto-asset gains falls from 55% to 20%. Asset managers, custodians, trading venues and advisers already licensed in Japan at that point will be the ones handling the new flows.

At Tech for Impact Summit

Technology governance is on the agenda at Tech for Impact Summit 2026.

Sota Watanabe, founder of Astar Network and CEO of Startale Labs, advised the LDP’s Web3 Project Team and built Soneium with Sony. He will speak about protocol design and corporate partnerships under the current rules.

Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, has dealt with regulators in dozens of jurisdictions. He will speak about how Japan compares.

The Tech for Impact Summit takes place on April 26, 2026, at Tokyo Garden Terrace Kioi Conference, as a partner event of SusHi Tech Tokyo. It is an invitation-only executive gathering.

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Watch highlights from previous summits: youtu.be/ujy7ZXflrt4