None of the 31 crypto exchanges registered with the Japan Financial Services Agency currently offers trading in stablecoins such as USDT or USDC.
Japanese regulators are considering some major cryptocurrency restrictions related to the use of stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) or USD Coin USDC ($1.00).
Japan’s Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) will lift the ban on the distribution of stablecoins to foreigners in 2023, the Nikkei news agency reported on Dec. 21. 26.
The new stablecoin law in Japan will allow local exchanges to handle trading in stablecoins under the conditions of asset protection through deposit and compensation limits. “If payments using stablecoins become more common, international money transfers can be faster and cheaper,” the report said.
Allowing the distribution of stablecoins in Japan will also require additional regulations related to anti-money laundering, the FSA said. The authority began collecting comments on Monday on plans to lift the ban on stablecoins in Japan. As previously reported, the Japanese parliament passed a law banning non-banking companies from issuing stablecoins in June 2022. The latest will have a big impact on the cryptocurrency trading services offered in Japan since currently, no local exchange offers trading in stablecoins such as USDT or USDC.
According to official data, none of the 31 Japanese exchanges registered with the FSA – including companies such as BitFlyer or Coincheck – are currently trading stablecoins as of November 30, 2022.
BitFlyer, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan, is buying a total of five cryptocurrencies at the time of writing, including Bitcoin BTC ($16,859), Ether ETH ($1,220), Bitcoin Cash BCH ($102), Ripple XRP ($0.35) and stars XLM ($0.074), according to data from CoinGecko. The FSA did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.
Japanese authorities have been active in crypto-related legislation recently. On Dec. 15, Japan’s governing body, the Liberal Democratic Party’s Tax Committee, approved a proposal to remove the requirement for crypto companies to pay taxes on deposits and receipts. Earlier, local regulators also advised against the use of algorithmic stablecoins such as Terra USD (UST).
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