Japan weighs regular crypto investment schemes not registered

According to documents that the CoinDesk team had access to, Japan's top financial regulator is making an effort to close a legal gap that allows unregistered investment firms to request funds in cryptocurrencies and not in cash.

According to a note from Sankei Shimbun, a newspaper that covers the source of the economy in the Asian country, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan is planning revisions to incorporate these schemes to the Law of Financial Instruments and Exchanges of the country, although not A calendar was provided for the changes.

Currently, the law prohibits unregistered schemes from collecting investments in fiduciary currencies, but does not mention cryptocurrencies.

As reported by the local press, the issue has received a greater focus on the part of the authorities as a result of the increasing incidence of pyramid schemes of cryptography in the country. In November, Tokyo police arrested eight men who allegedly executed a plan of this type that raised 7.8 billion yen (about 69 million dollars) in crypts of thousands of victims.

It was said that the eight collected most of the payments in Bitcoin, as well as another 500 million yen (about 4.40 million dollars) in cash, under the pretext of a false investment firm called Sener.

Sankei Shimbun quoted officials as saying that if the scam had requested only the cryptocurrency, it is possible that the criminals had not been caught.

Japan's FSA has been actively regulating the cryptocurrency space since the shock wave that followed the collapse of Mt Gox's stock market in 2014. The measures have included instigating a licensing scheme for the exchange of cryptography and a thorough control of the security and compliance with the rules against money laundering.

Just yesterday, it was reported that the agency was considering approving cryptographic exchange funds (ETF). At the same time, apparently it has now abandoned plans to approve the trade of cryptographic derivatives in financial exchanges due to concerns that the products encourage speculation.

Japan has remained more thorough with regulations since the accident with the Coincheck exchange. From that moment, any activity related to cryptocurrencies is governed by a strict but flexible regulatory framework.