Japan’s crypto paralysis is cultural; tax cuts won’t fix it

The following article is a guest post and opinion of Maksym Sakharov, Co-founder and CEO of WeFi.

Last month, Japan’s Financial Services Agency proposed a wholesale reclassification of cryptocurrencies that would introduce a flat 20% tax on digital asset income and help introduce crypto exchange-traded funds.

For a long time, the country’s progressive tax system has imposed levies on crypto gains at rates of up to 55%, a factor many feel makes investing in crypto quite unattractive.

Institutionalized Inertia

However, this is not the only obstacle in the path of a potential Bitcoin ETF approval in Japan; it’s not even the most pressing. Late last year, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba seemingly dismissed the idea of crypto ETFs, questioning whether the government should promote digital assets like it does traditional investments.

His ruling coalition lost its majority in the upper house following a bruising contest that saw them fall three seats shy of the 50 needed to maintain their advantage. Yet, even as political control hangs in the balance—and Ishiba vows to stay regardless of the election outcome—one thing has remained consistent: Japan’s deep-rooted caution.

Ishiba’s noncommittal stance on ETF approvals is merely a symptom of a deeper malaise. The country’s regulatory reflex isn’t about consumer safety alone—it’s about an entrenched culture of compliance that resists risk at all costs. This mindset, not the much-maligned 55% crypto tax, is what’s truly stifling innovation.

The irony is that Japan was once ahead of neighbors like South Korea and Hong Kong. It recognized crypto as a means of payment back in 2017 and built some of the world’s earliest regulatory infrastructure. Furthermore, in the second quarter of 2024, Metaplanet kick-started a wave of Bitcoin buying by Japanese listed companies, amassing a treasury worth almost $2 billion in BTC at last count. And that’s not all. Progress has also been made in the development of stablecoins and crypto payments infrastructure, with Sumitomo Mitsui signing an MoU with Ava Labs and Fireblocks in preparation to issue fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies.

Yet, beneath these seeming success stories lies a bureaucratic labyrinth killing businesses. Under the current framework, small startups with dreams of offering virtual asset services have found it hard to meet the stringent requirements that include extensive documentation, a local bank account, a Japan-based compliance team, and at least 10 million yen in capital, among others.

Some may argue that the rules are there to protect users, and that’s valid. But couldn’t there be a happy balance between consumer protection and leeway for innovation? It almost feels like the FSA is isolating regulators from builders, with pencil pushers designing rules without stress-testing them against real-world tech constraints.

If taxes were the real barrier for Web3 innovation, the FSA’s proposed reforms would ignite a boom.

Reform Roadmap

To pivot from compliance to competitiveness, Japan needs to rewire some of its long-held approaches. For starters, the government must sunset the pre-approval model and adopt a quicker system that lets exchanges release tokens with post-launch audits. Here, tokens just need to meet baseline disclosure and security attestation requirements to be listed. Full regulatory and technical audits can then be conducted within 30 days of the launch. This way, investor protections are still preserved through enforceable audit sanctions and delisting authority, while at the same time dramatically reducing listing lead times.

The country’s regulators also have to launch dynamic sandboxes that could use zero-knowledge proofs for privacy-safe verification. There’s also a need for state capital injection. Japan could create a $500 million FSA-matched fund directly backing Web3 startups that meet security benchmarks, effectively giving it some skin in the game.

Finally, to foster cooperation and shake off its bureaucratic isolation, the financial regulator could seat tech founders on its advisory boards. This would give it a firsthand look at industry pain points, allowing it to shape policies with the end user in mind rather than to be defensive, status quo-preserving tenets.

These are not radical demands. They’re already standard in the jurisdictions that are now leading global crypto adoption.

Builders are watching. With populist parties like Sanseito gaining traction on “Japan First” rhetoric, the political winds are shifting. If Ishiba’s coalition falls, a new administration could usher in a more innovation-friendly era. But only if Japan’s regulators pivot away from their risk-averse DNA. Without that shift, tax reform will be cosmetic, ETFs will remain in limbo, and Japan’s early advantage in crypto will fade into history.

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