Authored by Micah Zimmerman via The Epoch Times,
Japan’s parliament passed an amendment on Wednesday that reclassifies cryptocurrency as a “financial asset,” a shift that pulls bitcoin and other digital assets out of the country’s payments regime and into the framework that governs stocks, bonds, and investment trusts, according to a report from public broadcaster NHK.
The change strips crypto of its prior status under the Payment Services Act, where regulators treated it as a means of settlement, and folds it into the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA), the same statute that oversees traditional securities.
The amendment moves bitcoin and other crypto under a single investor-protection standard. NHK reports the change takes effect within a year, with a target of fiscal 2027.
Japan’s new authority over bitcoin and the crypto asset class
Japan’s cabinet first approved this measure as a draft amendment in April 2026, but that step only sent the bill toward the Diet for debate. Wednesday’s vote marks the final enactment into law, alongside formal approval of a separate plan to cut the top tax rate on crypto gains from 55% to a flat 20% starting in 2028.
The move rewires how Japan supervises the asset class. As financial instruments, crypto assets now fall unde
