Japan’s Financial Services Agency will open a standalone Cryptocurrency and Stablecoin Division on Aug. 7, folding what used to be scattered oversight desks into one unit, according to a report from NADA News. The agency announced the restructuring on Aug. 5, and the change moves crypto supervision out of office-level status and into a full division for the first time.
How the FSA Restructured Crypto Oversight
The new division sits under the FSA’s Asset Utilization and Insurance Supervision Bureau. It replaces a setup where crypto work was split between the Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Innovation Office and the Cryptocurrency Monitoring Office, both of which reported up through the Comprehensive Policy Bureau’s Risk Analysis Division.
Three offices now sit inside the new division. The Cryptocurrency Monitoring Office keeps its job supervising exchange operators. Two new units, the Innovation Promotion Office and the Digital Payment Planning Office, take on financial innovation and digital payment policy work that previously had no dedicated home. The FSA framed the move as a response to how fast financial technology is changing, saying it needs a structure built to keep pace rather than one patched together from older bureaus.
The new division arrives as Japan pushes ahead on several other fronts for digital assets, following recent moves like the launch of a crypto-linked credit card. LDP lawmaker Seiji Kihara said in July that the country’s two-times leverage cap on crypto trading limits liquidity and price discovery, and that loosening it is part of the broader digital asset reform agenda, though no timeline has been set. If you’re unfamiliar with how leverage trading increases both gains and losses, check our guide to crypto leverage trading.
Separately, an amended financial law lays the groundwork for a flat 20% tax rate on crypto gains with a three-year loss carry-forward, expected to take effect in 2028 once supporting rules are finished. That same reform track has also opened the door to domestic Bitcoin ETFs, with the FSA reportedly working on revisions to investment trust rules.
What This Means for Japanese Crypto Holders
A standalone division means one office now handles crypto rules from start to finish, instead of two offices splitting the work. For exchanges and token issuers in Japan, that should mean fewer gaps between departments and more consistent enforcement of the rules already on the books.
Japan’s Next Crypto Policy Move to Watch
Kihara’s push to raise the leverage cap has no confirmed date yet, but it’s the next concrete policy marker to watch. He leads the LDP’s Next Generation AI and On-Chain Finance Project Team, the group steering Japan’s broader digital asset reform agenda, so any movement on the cap is likely to come through that channel first.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or tax advice. Tax treatment of crypto gains varies, and reforms described here are not yet in effect.
What this means for you: If you’re new to crypto and based in Japan, this restructuring is one to keep an eye on. It usually takes clearer rules like this before products such as Bitcoin ETFs and lower tax rates become available to everyday investors, and the FSA is already working on both.
