Japan’s FSA gives stablecoin oversight update.
A rep from the FSA (Financial Services Agency) in Japan has recently highlighted in the FSA newsletter the similarities in the supervision of stablecoin issuers like JPYC Inc. and popular domestic payment companies from a fund transfer oversight perspective.
Published in the FSA newsletter, Fund Coordinator Kosuke Kishimoto expressed:
JPYC, the first domestic issuer of a yen-denominated stablecoin, which has recently become a hot topic, is also a fund transfer company.”
As per CoinPost, Kishimoto further implies that domestic stablecoin issuers, such as JPYC Inc., at their core may have similar service responsibilities to major mobile payment providers in Japan, such as PayPay and RakutenPay.
This relates to the delivery of stablecoin redemption obligations to the end recipient. Additionally, Kishimoto states that the actions of stablecoin issuers may be monitored as part of the same “Funding Settlement Monitoring Office” at the FSA.
Japan regulates crypto assets and stablecoins under the 2022 Crypto Assets and Stablecoins Framework.
Therein, it is noted that only banks, funder transfer providers, and trust companies are allowed for stablecoin issuance. Some intermediary requirements are also outlined. JPYC Inc. currently falls in the middle category of the three permitted entities, having secured a Fund 2 Transfer License from the FSA.
Right now its JPYC stablecoin sits on top of a $20M market cap and (nearly doubled in the last month alone) per CoinGecko. Actual supply issued in Yen is around 3.375B across 3 chains: Polygon, Ethereum and Avalanche in descending order per DeFiLlama.
Recently, the JPYSC stablecoin was launched by bank and trust issuers to scale local currency adoption.
Interestingly, the Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Financial Services had hinted in early April that there is a new FSA project that will be focused explicitly on bridging the settlement of tokenized deposits between individual banks.
Minister Katayama Satsuki expressed:
Globally, including in the United States, there is an intense debate over whether future payment systems should rely on stablecoins or on tokenized deposits. We intend to work proactively to remain at the forefront of technological developments in both areas.”
The country seems to be ramping up its efforts this year to modernize digital payments for consumers and institutions alike.
