The Financial Services Agency of Japan (FSA) are now notorious for their stance on cryptocurrency exchanges. Internationally, Japan are spearheading a movement towards cryptocurrency regulation through their regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges in the country. Within this, exchanges must meet very specific requirements and also seek approval from the FSA in order to operate. The idea behind this is to protect customers from cybercrime and to also ensure that the exchanges are protecting their customers assets.

According to CCN, the FSA are now looking towards changing their regulations to allow for a greater level of customer care and protection. They aim to do this by bringing cryptocurrency regulation to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA). The FIEA hosts a number of existing laws that apply to traditional securities and stock exchanges. By applying cryptocurrency standards to the FIEA, the FSA will be able to exert greater control over cryptocurrency exchanges in the country. The essence of this is that through FIEA, the FSA will have access to a hardened framework which can be used to investigate cryptocurrency exchanges on a deeper level than by using the powers currently held by the FSA.

According to CCN:

“The FIEA mandates that companies regulated under the law are required to manage customer funds separately from corporate assets. Broadly speaking, the FIEA has far more robust investor protection norms, the report suggests, with strict rules to check activity like insider trading. If the proposed shift to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges under the scope of the FEIA occurs, cryptocurrencies will be classified as a ‘financial product’. This, in turn, could lead to cryptocurrencies gaining exposure to mainstream financial markets.”

See more for yourself, here-

https://www.ccn.com/japans-financial-regulator-considers-revising-crypto-exchange-regulation-report/

I can see this going one of two ways really. At the moment, Japan are very much leading the cryptocurrency adoption race through their recognition of consumer rights within cryptocurrency. They are allowing crypto to flourish. Therefore, this new move could really go on to secure the future of cryptocurrency in Japan as a safe form of trading. However, I do believe there is a risk here that these new regulations might continue to drive larger exchanges out of Japan, much like we have seen with Binance recently.

If more exchanges are driven out of Japan, the market there becomes less decentralised and of course, Japanese people will have access to less currencies. This is problematic on a global scale because in turn, this will impact the market capitalisation of any coins that are only available on exchanges that are being driven out of the area, making it harder to such coins to have a presence or a customer base in Japan.

As the Japanese authorities are bullish about cryptocurrencies, we can only hope that this sentiment is reflected by their decision to change their current regulations. At the very least, they are ensuring a safer environment for investors and traders but I do wonder what the bigger picture will be here.