The Japan Financial Services Agency plans to consider cryptocurrency as a financial product similar to securities, and implement tax reductions and approve ETFs

Odaily Planet Daily News: The Japanese Financial Services Agency has begun considering positioning cryptocurrency as a financial product similar to securities, with the aim of requiring companies to disclose more detailed information to protect investors. At present, the Financial Services Agency is holding closed door research meetings with experts to review whether the current regulation of virtual currencies is sufficient. It is reported that the Financial Services Agency of Japan has started designing a system and will announce the system reform policy in June this year. After discussions in the Financial System Committee in the autumn of this year, the law will be amended at the regular Diet meeting in 2026. Bloomberg recently reported that "the expert research group established by the Japanese Financial Services Agency generally agrees that cryptocurrency is beginning to be positioned as an investment target," which seems to be a response to the US SEC's approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs and Ethereum spot ETFs, as well as the Trump administration's support for the cryptocurrency industry. The new system also aims to lift the ban on "Bitcoin spot ETFs" and may lower the current tax rate of up to 55% to 20%, the same as the financial income tax rate, in order to protect investors and revitalize the market. An important question to be raised in the future is whether the target is all cryptocurrency assets or only those assets that have been approved as ETFs in the United States, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. (Nikkei News)