Fukuoka Web3: a government-backed startup city for crypto builders

Fukuoka at a glance

Search for "Fukuoka Web3" and you will find big claims about Japan's Silicon Valley. The reality is more interesting and more modest. On infrastructure, Fukuoka is an ordinary regional city: none of Japan's 27 registered crypto-asset exchange service providersCompanies registered with the FSA, via a regional finance bureau, to buy, sell and hold crypto for Japan residents. is based here, none is registered with the Kyushu-area finance bureaus, we found no crypto ATM, and BTC Map lists exactly one place in the prefecture that takes bitcoin.

On policy, though, Fukuoka stands out. The city launched Japan's first National Strategic Special Zone startup visa in 2015, was named a "global startup hub city" by the Cabinet Office in 2020, and from 2022 began running events with Web3An umbrella term for blockchain-based internet services where users hold their own assets and data: crypto, NFTs, DAOs and so on. in the title. The prefecture built its own industry network and holds an annual blockchain forum. If you are thinking of building a crypto or blockchain company in Japan outside Tokyo, Fukuoka is one of the few places where city hall has said, in writing, that it wants you.

This guide covers that record with dates and sources, then turns practical: the startup visa, local banking (including the digital Minna Bank), buying and spending crypto, and where to file taxes. Programmes change by fiscal year, so check the city's and prefecture's latest announcements before relying on any of them.

Fukuoka City's Web3 track record

The city's interest in Web3 grows out of its startup policy, and most of what it has done is about bringing people together rather than handing out money. These are the milestones we could verify.

• Dec 2015Startup visa opens The first special-zone startup visa in Japan, after the city's plan was certified in October 2015.
• Jul 2020Global startup hub city The Fukuoka Startup Consortium is named one of four global hubs in the Cabinet Office's startup-ecosystem programme.
• Oct 2022Astar Japan Lab partnership Mayor Soichiro Takashima announced it at the Myojo Waraku 2022 event, reportedly aiming to make Fukuoka a Web3 hub.
• 2023Web3 town hall and FUKUOKA DAO CAMP Organised by the city's startup support division, with Fracton Ventures running a two-day camp on DAOsDecentralised autonomous organisation: a group that makes decisions through token-based voting on a blockchain..
• 3 Mar 2024Fukuoka Web3 Pitch At Engineer Cafe, 1-15-30 Tenjin. The city's release framed the goal as building momentum for Web3 and creating new players in Fukuoka.
• 2025–2026No new city programme found We could not find a new Web3-specific city initiative in this period.

The Astar connection is worth a note: Astar Network is a Japan-born blockchain, and its ASTR token appears in our list of Japanese cryptocurrencies. What the timeline does not show is any consumer-facing incentive. There is no Fukuoka subsidy, tax break or perk for individuals buying crypto; the city's focus is on founders and builders.

Fukuoka Prefecture's blockchain forum and the Iizuka cluster

The prefecture runs its own track. On 17 July 2024 it launched the Fukuoka Future IT Initiative, an industry-academia-government network chaired by Yukihiro Matsumoto, the creator of the Ruby programming language. By the end of September 2025 it had 915 member companies and organisations. Its secretariat sits in the prefecture's advanced-technology industry division.

Together they host the Fukuoka Blockchain Forum. The 2024 edition was held on 28 November 2024. The 2025 edition took place on Monday 22 December 2025 at the Sky Lobby on the sixth floor of ONE FUKUOKA BLDG. in Tenjin: free, 80 seats plus a livestream, co-hosted by Iizuka City with support from the Fukuoka Blockchain Alliance. The prefecture's announcement lists this programme:

The line-up tells you where Fukuoka's blockchain work actually happens: a bank, a carmaker's lab, a football club, a power company and a small city. Iizuka, an inland city in the prefecture, keeps coming up: the prefecture's own feature series describes it as the long-time base of chaintope, the developer of the Tapyrus blockchain. The same series profiles Kyushu Electric Power's NFT platform, Avispa Fukuoka's sports DAO and Minna Bank's stablecoinA token designed to hold a steady value against a currency, such as a yen-pegged stablecoin. plans. For context on yen stablecoins see JPYC and yen stablecoins, and for Japanese NFT and DAO projects, Web3 games and NFTs in Japan.

The Fukuoka Startup Visa for crypto founders

For foreign founders, this is the headline. Under the programme, Fukuoka City reviews your business plan in advance and can grant a "Designated Activities" status of residence, which the city calls the Startup Visa. According to the city's English page (updated 17 October 2025), it is granted for one year initially and up to two years in total, giving you time to meet the requirements of the standard Business Manager visa.

Eligible fields include knowledge-based industries such as fintech, semiconductors and software development, alongside health and medical, environment and energy, logistics and trade. Applications go through Global Business Support (GBS), the city's one-stop centre for foreign entrepreneurs, and briefings take place on the 14th floor of Fukuoka City Hall in Tenjin. There is a ¥300 online processing fee per certificate. Our crypto guide for foreigners in Japan covers the other side: banking, exchange accounts and tax as a new resident.

Banking in Fukuoka: Minna Bank, Fukuoka Bank and deposits

The local banking group, Fukuoka Financial Group (FFG), owns both Fukuoka Bank and Minna Bank, a smartphone-only digital bank. Whether you can fund a crypto exchange quickly from either depends on the exchange.

BitTrade (Kanto Local Finance Bureau No. 00007) lists Minna Bank in its help centre as a free quick depositInstant deposit: you start the payment in your bank's app and the yen appears in your exchange account within minutes. bank, alongside Docomo SMTB Net Bank, PayPay Bank and AEON Bank. GMO Coin's instant-deposit list, by contrast, includes neither Minna Bank nor Fukuoka Bank, so deposits from them arrive as ordinary, slower bank transfers. If you bank locally, check this before choosing an exchange; a net-bank account is the simple workaround. And always send from an account in your own name, because Japanese banks now block transfers to exchanges when the sender name doesn't match. The full matrix is in ways to pay for crypto.

Buying and spending crypto in Fukuoka

Buying works the same as anywhere in Japan: confirm the exchange on the FSA register, complete phone-based ID checks with your residence card, deposit from your own account and start small. How to buy Bitcoin in Japan walks through it. There is no cash route locally: we found no crypto ATM in Kyushu, and while COINHUB's June 2026 announcement named Fukuoka as a planned location, nothing has been confirmed. The machines that are listed as working, in Tokyo and Osaka, charge 10% each way; see crypto ATMs in Japan.

Spending is limited to one listing. Coffee Stand Seed Village at 2-4-31 Daimyo, Chuo-ku, accepts on-chainA regular bitcoin transaction recorded directly on the blockchain. Slower and costlier than Lightning, but any bitcoin wallet can send it. bitcoin only, no Lightning (BTC Map check, 23 September 2026). It is the only verified bitcoin spot we found in Kyushu, so confirm with the café before going. National listings are in where to spend crypto in Japan.

Visitors flying into Fukuoka Airport cannot open Japanese exchange accounts, which require a residence card and Japanese address. Keep using your home exchange or a platform that accepts foreign cards. CEX.IO, for example, holds a US FinCEN MSB registration, money-transmitter licences in many US states and a UK FCA cryptoasset registration, and takes Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay and Google Pay. It is not registered with Japan's FSA, does not support yen, and Japan is on its list of unsupported countries, so it is for visitors, not residents.

Where to plug in

Fukuoka's Web3 news comes from a handful of places. Engineer Cafe in Tenjin hosted the 2024 Web3 pitch. Startup Cafe, the city's startup consultation desk, operates inside the Fukuoka Growth Next startup facility. The prefecture's Future IT Initiative publishes forum announcements and company profiles, and the Fukuoka Blockchain Alliance supported the 2025 forum. We did not find a regular bitcoin meetup in Fukuoka; smaller study sessions sometimes appear on connpass and Luma under searches such as "福岡 web3". The national schedule is in our crypto events calendar.

Tax and regulators in Fukuoka

Crypto gains are generally miscellaneous incomeZatsu shotoku (雑所得): the catch-all income category; crypto gains are added to your other income and taxed progressively., taxed at up to 55% combined. Salaried workers with one employer and no more than ¥200,000 of other income can skip the national return but still need to declare for resident tax. The rules are in our Japan crypto tax guide.

Your tax office

File where you live, usually via e-Tax. Find the office by postcode with the National Tax Agency office finder.

Fukuoka Regional Taxation Bureau

Fukuoka Godo Chosha, 2-11-1 Hakata-ekimae Higashi, Hakata-ku; 092-411-0031. Covers Fukuoka, Saga and Nagasaki.

Fukuoka Local Finance Branch Bureau

Same government complex (main building). Financial regulator for the three prefectures; no exchange is registered with it.

Rest of Kyushu

Kumamoto, Oita, Miyazaki and Kagoshima fall under the Kumamoto bureau and the Kyushu Local Finance Bureau.

Heading further south? See our Okinawa guide, or click a prefecture on the map.

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