PANews reported on February 12 that according to Coinpost, the Director of the Planning and Market Bureau of the Financial Services Agency of Japan, Yufu Shixing, proposed a comprehensive institutional reform plan for crypto assets and stablecoins today based on the discussion of the working group of the Financial Review Council last month. Among them, it is worth noting that the "domestic holding order for assets" for crypto asset exchanges will be introduced, that is, certain assets need to be held domestically. This move is aimed at learning from the bankruptcy of the large exchange FTX in 2022 and further strengthening the protection of user assets. In addition, as a new institutional reform, the transaction intermediary business of crypto assets will be established as an independent business. Under the current system, even if only engaged in intermediary business, it is necessary to register as a crypto asset exchange, but this reform will allow business to be conducted under a more efficient regulatory framework. It is expected that companies such as game companies and communications companies with a broad customer base will enter this field. For example, new businesses such as NFT transactions within game applications and payment services using crypto assets will be carried out.
For stablecoins, the flexibility of trust-type supporting assets will also be adjusted. Specifically, the use of highly secure short-term government bonds and fixed deposits of a certain period as supporting assets is being studied. Finance Minister Kato said: "I hope to create an environment where users can use convenient remittance and payment services with peace of mind through institutional reforms." He emphasized that the goal is to balance user protection and the promotion of innovation. The Financial Services Agency plans to concretize these reform plans in the future and formulate a "Bill to Amend Parts of the Trust Industry Act" and a "Bill to Amend Parts of the Funds Settlement Act" respectively.
Earlier on February 10, it was reported that the Japanese Financial Services Agency plans to position crypto assets as financial products .
