Japan’s tightly guarded crypto gates have opened for the first time in years — and it’s a traditional-finance heavyweight walking through. According to reporting by Cointelegraph, Nomura Group’s digital asset subsidiary, Laser Digital, has received authorization to operate as a crypto asset exchange service provider under Japan’s Payment Services Act (PSA).
A list issued by Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) on Friday showed Laser Digital receiving the country’s first crypto exchange license in four years. The last platform to earn FSA authorization was Binance Japan back in October 2022, underscoring just how selective Japan’s regulator has been.
A “new phase of maturity”
Laser Digital co-founder and CEO Jez Mohideen framed the approval as a sign of the market growing up. Japan’s crypto market is entering a “new phase of maturity,” he said in a Friday press release, creating a need for “trusted counterparties and infrastructure” as institutional investors increase their interest in the asset class.
The rules are shifting underneath it
The timing is notable because Japan is in the middle of rewiring how it treats crypto. In July, the country’s parliament passed revisions that classify crypto assets as financial assets under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA), Cointelegraph reports.
Those revisions move regulation of crypto transactions away from the PSA — where digital assets are currently treated primarily as payment instruments — and introduce insider trading rules along with stronger oversight for crypto businesses. The crypto provisions are set to take effect on a date fixed by Cabinet order within one year of the amendments’ July 23 promulgation.
The direction was signaled at the top months earlier: Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama indicated in January an intent to bring crypto under the same umbrella as traditional financial assets. Laser Digital’s license, arriving as that framework takes shape, positions a Nomura-backed venture to serve the institutional money Japan is betting will follow clearer, tougher rules.
Written for Red Robot with AI assistance and human editing. Based on reporting by Cointelegraph.
