JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Ken Kawai, Shunsuke Aoki, Takeshi Nagase and Keisuke Hatano, Anderson Mori & Tomotsune
Specifically, a token that satisfies items (i) and (ii) below” generally will not constitute a Type I crypto-asset. The same applies to the determi - nation of whether a token constitutes a Type II crypto-asset: (i) the issuer, etc, has made clear that the token is not intended to be used as a means of payment for goods, etc, to unspecified parties. This can be achieved by, for example, stating clearly in the terms and conditions of the issuer or its busi - ness-handling service provider, or in the product description, that use of the token as a means of payment to unspecified parties is prohibited, or that the token or related system is designed in a way that does not enable it to be used as a means of payment to unspecified parties); and (ii) (where use of the token as a means of pay - ment for goods, etc, to unspecified parties is permitted) certain requirements on the price and quantity of the relevant goods, etc, and on the technical characteristics and specifications of the token must be met. For example, at least one of the following characteristics must be present: • the minimum value per transaction must be sufficiently high (ie, JPY1,000 or more); or • the number of tokens issuable as a proportion of a transaction of minimum value is limited (ie, not exceeding 1 million).
terms must be agreed upon separately between a fintech company and a bank. 11.2 Concerns Raised by Open Banking In many cases, banks impose security require - ments on the users of OpenAPI, and conduct pre-screening and regular monitoring on such users. Banks also carry out security audits through third parties when necessary.
12. Fraud 12.1 Elements of Fraud
There are no laws or regulations in Japan that relate specifically to fraud in the context of finan - cial services or fintech. Under the current legal framework in Japan, there would be a finding of fraud if (i) an act of deception has been committed, (ii) the act caus - es another party to make a mistake and (iii) such other party delivers goods or property benefits based on such mistake (Article 246 of the Crimi - nal Code), regardless of whether the fraudulent act was committed in the context of financial services, fintech or otherwise. 12.2 Areas of Regulatory Focus In recent years, there has been an increase in issues surrounding crypto-assets that are traded electronically via the internet. In addition, there has been an increase in the number of cases where people have made investments in con - nection with the exchange of crypto-assets and suffered losses as a result. In this connection, the Consumer Affairs Agency of Japan (CAA), jointly with the Financial Services Agency of Japan (FSA) and the National Police Agency of Japan (NPA), has issued a warning on
11. Open Banking 11.1 Regulation of Open Banking
The Japanese government is trying to acceler - ate the shift to open banking. Specifically, banks were legally obligated to make efforts to com - plete the development of an OpenAPI system by 31 May 2018. However, banks are not legally obligated to release APIs, and fees and other
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