The Japanese Government approved a bill in June recognizing stablecoins as digital money. By doing so, Japan became one of the first big countries to form a legal framework for stablecoins.
However, they were required to be backed by Japan’s fiat yen or another legal tender that allowed holders to employ them at face value. Nonetheless, the bill did not touch upon overseas stablecoins backed by assets like Tether.
However, per a development that just shaped up, the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) may reverse the ban on the circulation of stablecoins like Tether and USDC.
A recent report from CoinsPaid stated,
“In 2023, the Financial Services Agency will lift the ban on domestic distribution of stablecoins issued overseas.”
The report further pointed out that the remittance limit will be set at 1 million yen ($7500) per transaction.
As far as domestically issued stablecoins are considered, issuers will have to put together collateral assets. Issuers are limited to banks, fund transfer service providers, and trust companies.
The FSA will also require stablecoin distributors to record transaction information like user identities as a money laundering prevention tool. According to CoinsPaid, the agency started collecting opinions on draft guidelines for stablecoins after the 26th of December.
Japan’s crypto stance has notably eased over the years. The country recently revealed its expansion into the NFT and Metaverse space. Parallelly, the Government is also looking to ease crypto tax rules.