JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Ken Kawai, Shunsuke Aoki, Takeshi Nagase and Keisuke Hatano, Anderson Mori & Tomotsune
Anderson Mori & Tomotsune Otemachi Park Building 1-1-1 Otemachi Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 100-8136 Japan Tel: +81 3 6775 1000 Web: www.amt-law.com
1. Fintech Market 1.1 Evolution of the Fintech Market
• in respect of a person other than an EPI-TSP – intermediating, for and on entrustment by an EPI-TSP, the purchase and sale of EPIs or the exchange of one EPI for another EPI; or • in respect of a person other than a CAESP – inter - mediating, for and on entrustment by a CAESP, the purchase and sale of crypto-assets or the exchange of one crypto-asset for another crypto- asset. Transition of Cryptocurrency Regulations to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act Based on the Financial System Council’s “Working Group Report on Crypto-Assets Systems” In recent years, developments such as the listing of spot Bitcoin ETFs in several countries outside Japan have accelerated the treatment of crypto-assets as investment assets in various countries, including Japan. At the same time, there has been a global rise in fraudulent investment solicitation activities, creat - ing a growing need for more robust user protection measures. In response to these developments, the Financial System Council (an advisory body under the FSA), on 10 December 2025, published a report entitled “Working Group Report on Crypto-Assets Systems” (the “FSC Report”) to facilitate the creation of an environment that balances user protection with the promotion of innovation. The FSC Report identifies several challenges concerning crypto-asset invest - ments. These challenges can be briefly summarised as follows: • enhancing the disclosure and provision of informa - tion;
Amendment Act 2025: New Licence Regime for Electronic Payment Instruments and Crypto-Asset Intermediary Service Businesses In 2025, further the proposals by the Financial Ser - vices Agency (FSA) for amendment to the Payment Services Act (PSA), a Bill for Partial Amendment to the PSA (the “Amendment Act 2025”) was submit - ted to the Diet on March 2025. The Amendment Act 2025 introduces, among other things, a new licens - ing regime for business operators that engage only in intermediary services in respect of crypto-asset exchange services (CAES) and/or electronic pay - ment instruments transaction services (EPI-TS). The Amendment Act 2025 aims to establish a new licens - ing system with more lenient registration requirements for businesses that act solely as intermediaries for the trading of crypto-assets or electronic payment instru - ments (EPIs). This is because current requirements for the registration of such intermediary businesses as full-fledged crypto-asset exchange service providers (CAESPs) or electronic payment instruments trans - action service providers (EPI-TSP), which are subject to financial requirements and obligations under the Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds (APTCP), are considered excessively stringent. The Amendment Act 2025 defines the Electronic Pay - ment Instrument and Crypto-Asset Intermediary Ser - vice Business (ECISB) as engaging, as a business, in any of the following:
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