Masaaki Taira Advocates Japan’s Leadership in Web3 and Blockchain Technologies
Masaaki Taira, a politician in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the chairman of its Web 3.0 project team, claimed that Japan has already seen the future, and that future is blockchain on Thursday at the NexTech Week trade expo in Tokyo.
Taira, a vocal supporter of cryptocurrencies, used his talk on national plans for emerging technologies to highlight Japan’s strengths in Web3, or the idea of a new Internet based on decentralized blockchain technologies, the metaverse, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
“While other jurisdictions attempt to regulate a space that is not yet fully understood, Japan already has a relatively good grasp of what it is that we’re trying to promote,” Taira said, adding that global technology companies are taking note.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the Japanese government have embraced Web3 in particular as one of the cornerstones of the nation’s economic future. This is happening at a time when litigation filed against U.S. cryptocurrency exchanges are causing regulatory uncertainty and raising concerns about the country’s Web3 future.
In contrast, a white paper from a government organization in Japan published in April outlined the country’s strategy for promoting wider adoption of Web3 that incorporates crypto. In the weeks following its release, the paper has developed into a “major talking point” in Japan and abroad, according to Taira.