On April 10, 2026, the Bill for Partially Amending the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and the Payment Services Act (the "Amendment Bill") was approved by the Cabinet and submitted to the 221st session of the Diet.

The Amendment Bill consists of four pillars:

• a review of regulations relating to crypto-assets,
• governance of disclosure and accuracy of corporate sustainability information,
• promotion of funding for start-up companies, and
• a review of regulations on unfair trading in relation to securities. This article outlines, among these pillars, the review of regulations relating to crypto-assets.

The overall structure of the Amendment Bill is as follows. First, as part of the partial amendment to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA), it newly establishes an information disclosure regime, business regulations, and unfair trading regulations in relation to crypto-assets. Second, it deletes the provisions relating to crypto-asset exchange service providers under the current Payment Services Act (PSA). It also deletes the provisions relating to the sections concerning crypto-asset intermediary services conducted by electronic payment instruments and crypto-assets intermediary service providers under the Act Partially Amending the Payment Services Act (Act No. 66 of 2025), enacted in 2025. As a result of these deletions, the regulation of crypto-asset transactions will in the future be centralized under the FIEA.

For crypto-asset exchange service providers, incorporation into the framework of financial instruments business means that they will become subject to more stringent regulations than before, including a requirement to establish business management systems at the same level as those required for financial instruments business operators and an obligation to maintain reserves for liabilities arising from financial instruments transactions.

In addition, the Amendment Bill newly brings specified crypto-asset issuers within the scope of numerous directives under the FIEA that had not previously been applicable to such entities. Specifically, specified crypto-asset issuers will become subject to information disclosure regulations analogous to the issuance disclosure and continuous disclosure requirements applicable to securities. Further, the borrowing of crypto-assets, which had previously fallen outside the scope of the crypto-asset exchange service regulations under the PSA, will also be brought within the scope of regulation as a type of crypto-asset transaction business. Moreover, business operators that have provided wallet systems and similar services to crypto-asset exchange service providers will also now become subject to business regulations, including notification obligations, as providers of services related to crypto-asset management. These regulatory expansions will give rise to new compliance costs for the relevant entities and will require them to review their business structures in preparation for the implementation of these amendments.

On the other hand, by adding crypto-assets to the scope of investment management business and investment advisory business, etc., the legal status of asset management and advisory services involving crypto-assets will be clarified for existing investment management business operators and investment advisory business operators, while new business opportunities involving crypto-assets will also become available under the regulatory framework for financial instruments business operators and financial instruments intermediary service providers.

In this way, these amendments will have a significant impact on the crypto-asset ecosystem as a whole. However, many details regarding the specific contents of the Amendment Bill have been left to be determined by future subordinate legislation, and it will therefore be necessary to continue to closely monitor subsequent developments.