The short answer: legal, licensed and getting stricter
Crypto is legal in Japan. You can buy it, hold it, send it, spend it and sell it. It is not legal tender like the yen, but Japanese law defines it as a "crypto asset" (暗号資産, angō shisan) under the Payment Services Act, and that definition comes with a full rulebook for the businesses that handle it.
The rules mostly bind companies, not users. Any business that buys, sells, swaps or holds crypto for people in Japan must be registered as a crypto-asset exchange service providerA company registered with the FSA under the Payment Services Act to buy, sell, exchange or hold crypto for customers. Only these firms may serve Japan residents. (暗号資産交換業者). On 30 September 2026 there were 27. If you live here, your normal route is an account with one of them, opened with your residence card or My Number card.
The big news is that Japan is moving crypto from the Payment Services Act into the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA, 金融商品取引法), the law that governs securities. The amendment passed on 15 July 2026. It adds an insider-trading ban, issuer disclosure and a compensation reserve for hacks, and it opens the door to a 20% flat tax rate from 2028 at the earliest. The FSA has been clear that none of this is an endorsement of crypto investing.
How did Japan end up with such strict crypto rules?
Japan learned the hard way. Mt. Gox, once the world's best-known bitcoin exchange, was based in Tokyo. It filed for civil rehabilitation in February 2014 and entered bankruptcy that April, at a time when Japan had no law for crypto exchanges at all. The case moved back into civil rehabilitation in 2018, and creditors are still being repaid: in October 2026 the trustee pushed the repayment deadline out to 31 October 2027.
Lawmakers responded with a licensing regime that took effect in April 2017. Then, in January 2018, about ¥58 billion worth of NEM (XEM) at the time's prices was stolen from Coincheck's internet-connected hot walletA wallet whose keys sit on an internet-connected system. Convenient for fast withdrawals, but more exposed to hackers than offline cold storage.. Regulators ordered business improvements across the industry, Monex Group bought Coincheck, and it was registered in January 2019. A 2020 reform renamed "virtual currency" to "crypto asset", capped retail leverage at 2x and banned market manipulation in crypto.
In May 2024 about ¥48.2 billion in bitcoin was drained from DMM Bitcoin. Japan's National Police Agency linked the theft to the North Korea-associated group TraderTraitor. DMM Bitcoin closed and its accounts moved to SBI VC Trade in March 2025. Each incident left a mark on the rulebook, which is why Japan now looks more like a securities market than the open frontier many expats know from home.
- Feb 2014Mt. Gox collapses Civil rehabilitation filing, bankruptcy in April. Repayment deadline now 31 Oct 2027.
- Apr 2017Exchange licensing begins The amended Payment Services Act requires FSA registration.
- Jan 2018Coincheck hack About ¥58bn in XEM stolen. Industry-wide improvement orders follow.
- May 2020"Crypto asset" becomes the legal term Retail leverage capped at 2x; manipulation banned.
- Apr 2023BOJ starts its CBDC pilot Testing continues with no decision to issue.
- Jun 2023Travel Rule and stablecoin law Sender and recipient data must travel with transfers.
- Dec 2023Binance global leaves Japan Japanese users must move to registered Binance Japan.
- May 2024DMM Bitcoin hack About ¥48.2bn in BTC stolen; accounts moved to SBI VC Trade in 2025.
- Jan 2026CARF self-certification starts Exchanges collect tax residence and foreign tax numbers.
- Jul 2026FIEA amendment enacted Passed 15 July, promulgated 23 July.
- Aug 2026First provisions in force Higher penalties for unregistered business and SESC criminal powers from 12 August.
- By about Jul 2027Crypto moves under the FIEA Exact date to be set by cabinet order.
- Jan 2028 at the earliest20% flat tax could apply From the year after the FIEA provisions start (our estimate).
Who regulates crypto in Japan, and who is allowed to operate?
The Financial Services Agency (FSA, 金融庁) is the regulator, with the Local Finance Bureaus handling registrations and day-to-day supervision. To get registered, a firm has to keep customer money and coins separate from its own (segregationKeeping customer yen and crypto legally and operationally apart from the company's own assets, so customers are protected if the firm fails., 分別管理), hold most customer crypto in offline cold wallets, run identity checks and anti-money-laundering controls, and pass system-security reviews. Registered firms are inspected and can be ordered to improve or suspend business.
Of the 27 registered firms at the end of September 2026, 25 sit under the Kanto bureau and two, Zaif and Gaia, under the Kinki bureau in Osaka. Two of them, Gate Japan and Coinbase KK, list no crypto at all. The newest arrival is Nomura's Laser Digital Japan, registered on 21 August 2026. The list also shrinks: DMM Bitcoin is gone, BITPOINT merged into SBI VC Trade in April 2026, and LINE BITMAX shut down on 1 June 2026. Our list of FSA-registered exchanges tracks every name and number.
Foreign platforms need the same registration to market to Japan residents. The FSA has sent warning letters to Binance, Bybit (three times), MEXC, Bitget, KuCoin, LBank and others. The results show up in your inbox if you arrived with an overseas account: Binance global stopped serving Japan residents in December 2023, Bybit ended trading for them in 2026, and Bitget switches Japanese accounts to close-only from 1 November 2026. If you still have coins on one of these, read what happened to offshore exchanges in Japan before you move them.
How to check a platform in 30 seconds
Open the FSA register of crypto-asset exchange service providers (PDF) and search for the company's Japanese legal name and its number, written like 関東財務局長 第00014号. If a site claims to be "FSA approved" but is not on that list, walk away. The FSA itself notes that registration does not guarantee a firm is trustworthy.
What does the JVCEA do, and why is leverage capped at 2x?
Below the law sits the Japan Virtual and Crypto assets Exchange Association (JVCEA, 日本暗号資産等取引業協会), the industry's self-regulatory organisationAn industry body that writes detailed rules for its members and can discipline them. In Japan, JVCEA plays this role for crypto exchanges.. It has 33 business members plus 5 preparing to join, covering every registered exchange except Coinbase KK, several securities-firm derivatives desks and the yen stablecoin issuer JPYC.
The JVCEA is the reason Japanese exchanges list fewer coins than global ones. Before a member lists a new token, its own listing team, independent from sales, reviews it and notifies the association, which can run a pre-review, object or attach conditions. Tokens on the JVCEA's green listA JVCEA list of tokens that eligible member exchanges may list without the association's separate pre-review, because they are already established in Japan. skip that pre-review for eligible members. The detailed criteria sit in internal bylaws that we have not seen in full.
Leverage is capped by a Cabinet Office ordinance: individuals must post margin of at least 50% of the position, which works out to 2x. Corporate accounts use a token-specific risk ratio. The JVCEA also publishes market statistics: 14.47 million accounts at the end of August 2026, of which about 8.98 million were active. A separate group, the Japan Cryptoasset Business Association (JCBA), is a lobbying and networking body with 158 members, not a regulator. Among other things, it has lobbied for the move to a flat crypto tax rate.
What changes when crypto moves under the FIEA?
The amendment was approved by the cabinet on 10 April 2026, passed the Diet on 15 July and was promulgated on 23 July. Crypto becomes a financial instrument under the FIEA, separate from securities. Stablecoins and prepaid instruments stay under the Payment Services Act. Here is the before and after for the parts that touch ordinary users.
Today (Payment Services Act)
Firms are 暗号資産交換業者. There is no insider-trading offence for crypto. Running an unregistered exchange business carries up to 3 years in prison or a ¥3 million fine. Information about tokens comes mainly from exchanges, under industry rules. Gains are taxed as miscellaneous income at up to 55%.
After the FIEA provisions start
Firms become 暗号資産取引業者 with securities-style conduct rules. Insider tradingTrading on material non-public information, such as an upcoming exchange listing. Already illegal for stocks in Japan, and soon for crypto. carries up to 5 years or ¥5 million. Unregistered business carries up to 10 years or ¥10 million. Issuers raising money must disclose, and exchanges publish data for issuer-less coins like BTC. Exchanges build reserves to compensate hack victims.
The insider-trading ban covers any token handled by a Japanese registered exchange, whether you trade it on that exchange, on a DEX or over the counter. Material facts include an exchange starting or stopping a listing and an issuer winding up, and people who receive a tip are covered too. Paid promotion of a token will have to be disclosed, and services that borrow crypto from users, as well as crypto fund management and investment advice, become regulated businesses. A ministerial ordinance is expected to add a waiting period before new accounts can send coins to private wallets.
Timing matters. The crypto provisions start on a date set by cabinet order within one year of promulgation, so by about 22 July 2027. At the time of writing that order had not been published. Existing exchanges then get a six-month transition, extendable to two years if they apply in time. Two pieces are already live: since 12 August 2026 the penalties for unregistered business have been raised and the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) has criminal-investigation powers. For unregistered spot crypto business, the 10-year maximum only applies once crypto is under the FIEA. The tax side is explained in our guide to Japan's 20% crypto tax reform.
How does the Travel Rule affect sending crypto in and out of Japan?
Since 1 June 2023, Japan has applied the Travel RuleAn anti-money-laundering rule: when one exchange sends crypto to another, it must pass on the sender's and recipient's identity data. under the Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds. When a Japanese exchange sends crypto or stablecoins to another service provider, it passes on the sender's name, address or customer number and wallet address, plus the recipient's name and address. The receiving firm checks the data.
This is the moment many newcomers hit friction. Moving coins from an exchange back home to a Japanese one may fail if the two use different Travel Rule messaging networks, or if the sending country lacks equivalent rules. Transfers to your own self-custody wallet are allowed, but you will be asked to declare that the address is yours, and you may need to register it first. Exchanges also screen transfers with blockchain analytics and can restrict coins that arrive from suspicious sources. Check the receiving exchange's help pages before you send anything large, and see our guide to wallets that work with Japanese exchanges.
More friction is coming. On 6 August 2026 the FSA and the National Police Agency asked the JVCEA for 11 anti-fraud measures, including a hold on crypto withdrawals for a period after a yen deposit or purchase, pre-registration of withdrawal addresses with a waiting period, withdrawal limits and checks that the sender's name matches the account holder. Plan for "buy now, send later", not instant withdrawals. If your end goal is yen in a Japanese bank, our cash-out guide maps the routes.
What ID checks and tax forms do Japanese exchanges require?
Exchanges are "specified business operators" under the anti-money-laundering law, so they must verify who you are, your purpose and your occupation, keep records and report suspicious activity. Online checks (eKYCElectronic know-your-customer: proving your identity online, for example by photographing your ID and face, reading the IC chip in your card, or using the My Number card's digital certificate.) currently include a selfie with an ID image, a selfie with an IC-chip read of your ID, and the My Number card's digital certificate. Foreign residents use their residence card (在留カード, zairyū card) or My Number card.
Image-upload methods are being phased out. An ordinance amendment promulgated in June 2025 abolishes high-risk verification methods in favour of IC-chip and My Number card checks. The start date is widely reported as 1 April 2027, but we could not confirm it from the text, so treat it as unconfirmed. Some exchanges are already moving: Zaif has announced that it will verify customers with the My Number card only.
Since 1 January 2026 Japan has also applied the OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF). Everyone opening an account must self-certify their tax residence, with a foreign tax identification number if they are tax resident elsewhere, and people who already had accounts at the end of 2025 must file too. Data on foreign tax residents is shared with their home tax authorities via Japan's National Tax Agency. Our guide to crypto for foreigners in Japan walks through what that form means for expats.
Are stablecoins like USDC and JPYC legal in Japan?
Yes, under their own category. Since June 2023, fiat-backed stablecoinsA token designed to hold a 1:1 value with a currency such as the yen or US dollar. Japan regulates most as electronic payment instruments, not crypto assets. are "electronic payment instruments" (電子決済手段) under the Payment Services Act. Only banks, fund-transfer businesses and trust companies may issue them, and intermediaries need their own registration. Two firms hold it: SBI VC Trade, which handles USDC, RLUSD and the yen coin JPYSC, and Coincheck, which handles USDC.
On the yen side, JPYC began issuing its stablecoin on 27 October 2025 as a registered fund-transfer business, which caps each transfer at ¥1 million, and passed ¥10 billion in cumulative issuance in September 2026. SBI's trust-type JPYSC launched in June 2026, and Japan's three megabanks ran a joint trial in July 2026. Stablecoins stay under the Payment Services Act even after crypto moves to the FIEA. Our yen stablecoin guide covers how to get them.
What is the Bank of Japan's position on crypto and a digital yen?
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) does not supervise crypto exchanges; that is the FSA's job. The BOJ's work in this area is about a possible central bank digital currency (CBDCCentral bank digital currency: a digital form of a country's legal tender issued by its central bank. Different from private stablecoins.). It ran proofs of concept from April 2021 to March 2023 and has run a pilot programme since April 2023, combining an experimental system with a CBDC Forum of private companies.
Its June 2026 progress report counted 84 forum meetings since July 2023 and 163 company presentations, and it repeated that no decision has been made on whether Japan will issue a CBDC; that will depend on public debate. There is no digital yen launch date. We also could not verify any specific BOJ statement on bitcoin or other crypto assets from a primary source, so we do not quote one here. If you see one in the news, check the BOJ's own speech archive.
Can you buy a crypto ETF in Japan?
Not yet, as far as we could confirm. The pieces are being put in place: the 2026 tax law treats investment trusts that hold specified crypto assets like listed shares for tax purposes, and the FIEA amendment brings crypto fund management under regulation. But the tax provision depends on a further amendment to the investment-trust enforcement order, and we found no such order, no product approval and no listing date on the FSA's site. Media forecasts range from 2027 to "years away", and none rests on a primary source, so we are not guessing.
What can you do with crypto as a Japan resident?
Here is the practical checklist. "Resident" means you live in Japan, regardless of nationality; tourists on a short stay are in a different position, covered in our foreigners guide. Your own facts may change the answer, so ask the exchange, a lawyer or a licensed tax accountant (税理士, zeirishi) when in doubt.
| Activity | Allowed? | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Buy, sell and hold on an FSA-registered exchange | Yes | After ID checks (eKYC). Yen goes in and out only through a bank account in your own name. |
| Withdraw to your own wallet (MetaMask, Ledger) | Yes | You declare that the address is yours. A waiting period for brand-new accounts is planned. |
| Margin trading | Up to 2x | Individuals must post 50% margin. The 50x or 100x products you may know from abroad are not offered onshore. |
| Pay with crypto or swap coin for coin | Yes | Each payment or swap is a taxable disposal. |
| Staking or lending via a registered exchange | Yes | Rewards count as income when you receive them (NTA FAQ). |
| DEXs and DeFi from a self-custody wallet | At your own risk | Outside the registered-exchange safety net. The planned 20% tax rate will only cover sales through registered firms. |
| Keep using an unregistered offshore exchange | Not advised | Serving Japan residents without registration is illegal for the platform. Several have since frozen Japanese accounts or left. |
| Trade P2P with strangers as a side business | No | Repeated buying and selling for profit counts as unregistered exchange business. Police have made arrests. |
| Sell or lend your bank or exchange account | No | A crime under the Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds, including when you leave Japan. |
| Trade on a listing you heard about early | Soon a crime | Insider trading becomes punishable once the FIEA crypto provisions take effect. |
The line on peer-to-peer trading is worth reading in detail, because a one-off swap with a friend and a steady side business on Telegram are treated very differently. See our P2P crypto guide. For tax, start with the Japan crypto tax guide, and if you are about to arrive or leave, read moving to or leaving Japan with crypto.
Japan crypto regulation: FAQ
Is crypto legal in Japan?
Yes. Buying, holding and selling crypto is legal. Crypto is defined in the Payment Services Act, and only exchanges registered with the Financial Services Agency (FSA) may serve people who live in Japan. There were 27 registered exchanges at the end of September 2026.
Is Binance legal in Japan?
Binance Japan is registered with the FSA and is legal for residents. Binance global is not: the FSA warned it in 2018 and 2021, and it stopped serving Japan residents on 1 December 2023. Accounts that were not moved to Binance Japan became withdraw-only.
Can I get in trouble for using an offshore exchange from Japan?
The law targets platforms that serve Japan residents without registration, not their users. The practical risk falls on you, though: Bybit has stopped trading for Japan residents and Bitget moves Japanese accounts to close-only from 1 November 2026, so funds can get stuck. Gains made there will also stay outside the planned 20% tax rate.
When does the new crypto law take effect?
The amendment was enacted on 15 July 2026 and promulgated on 23 July 2026. The crypto provisions start on a date set by cabinet order within one year, so by about July 2027. Tougher penalties for unregistered business and new criminal-investigation powers already apply from 12 August 2026.
Is there a Bitcoin ETF in Japan?
Not as far as we could confirm. The 2026 tax law prepares the ground for crypto investment trusts, but it depends on a further change to the investment-trust rules. No product approval, listing date or official timetable has been published.
What is the maximum crypto leverage in Japan?
Two times for individuals. Japanese rules require margin of at least 50% of the position. Corporate accounts use a token-specific risk ratio instead.
Sources
- FSA: Register of crypto-asset exchange service providers (Japanese, PDF)
- FSA: Bills submitted to the 221st Diet (FIEA and PSA amendment)
- FSA: Cabinet order for the provisions in force 20 days after promulgation
- FSA: Request to strengthen anti-fraud measures, 6 August 2026
- JVCEA: Member list
- Bank of Japan: Central bank digital currency
- National Tax Agency: CARF (Japanese)
- Mt. Gox trustee notices
Keep reading
FSA-registered exchanges list
Every licensed operator with registration number and what it offers
Read more →
Offshore exchanges and Japan
Who left, who was warned, how to move funds
Read more →
Crypto for foreigners in Japan
Visas, residence cards, US persons and tourists
Read more →
The 20% crypto tax reform
What changes, for whom, and when it can start
Read more →
Crypto wallets in Japan
Choosing a wallet your exchange will actually send to
Read more →
Crypto scams in Japan
Investment groups, ATM scams and fake exchanges
Read more →