Japanese FSA Publishes Draft Guidelines For Crypto Asset Investments

The Japan Financial Services Agency (FSA) has published a guideline for funds investing in cryptocurrencies. The decision is one of the steps taken by the country's authorities to manage market development. In the introduction to the proposed changes to the Supervision Guidelines, the FSA notes the following:

“It is anticipated that financial products that invest in crypto assets (virtual currency) will be formed in the future. But there are also indications that investment in crypto assets is encouraging speculation. The agency believes that it should carefully handle the formation and sale of investment trusts that invest in such assets.”

The revisions look vague: they advise funds to be careful when investing in assets that go beyond the original purpose of the trust and to assess potential risks associated with volatility and liquidity. “Special attention should be paid to the composition of such products,”  the amendment warns.

Public comments on the revision are accepted by the FSA until the end of October. Since the beginning of 2018, the Agency has been finalizing the regulatory framework for exchanges and establishing a basis for offerings of tokens and coins. At the beginning of 2019, amendments to Payment Services Act and the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act were proposed. The progress is obvious: in the first half of 2019, the FSA approved three new exchanges. Last week, a self-regulatory organization (SRO) was formed, which will guide the development of the security token offerings market (STO), preparing the private sector for a new regulatory environment.

Image courtesy of Nikkei