On June 3, 2022, a bill passed the House of Councilors to amend the Order for Enforcement of the Payment Services Act, and was approved.
It is expected to go into effect within one year after the enactment of a Cabinet Office Ordinance.
The revised law defines “stablecoin” in Japan not as a crypto asset but primarily as a “Means of Electronic payment”. The law clearly defines
(1) currency denominated assets and
(2) specified trust beneficiary rights,
with the remainder for others to be determined by future Cabinet Office Ordinance.
In addition, there are three types of issuers for means of electronic payment: (1) banks,
(2) fund transfer service providers, and
(3) trust companies. In order to act as an
intermediary for means of electronic payment, it is now necessary to be registered as a
means of funds transfer operator.
Since the Prepaid Payment Instruments, JPYC follows, are not subject to this
amendment, there should be no direct impact except for one point.
That is even with Prepaid Payment Instruments, those with exceptionally strong transfer and payment functions may be treated as means of Electronic Payment.
Since many of the provisions of this revised law are to be stipulated by Cabinet Office Ordinance, it is difficult to ascertain the full scope of the law at this stage.
However, JPYC is committed to actively lobbying the government through industry associations in conjunction with the enactment of the Cabinet Office Ordinance so that our own operations can continue to improve services to our customers.
Currently, we are providing Prepaid Payment Instruments for own business, but we will start offering Prepaid Payment Instruments for third-party as soon as possible to expand our services and revenues.
In the future, JPYC aims to issue public chain based means of Electronic Payment (i.e., stable coins) that can be redeemed in legal tender through strengthening the relationship with Circle, which has invested in JPYC.
We are grateful for your continued support, and all of our employees will do their utmost to meet your needs.
Noritaka Okabe, CEO, JPYC Inc.
