Japan needs more convincing of the merits of making cryptocurrency investing easier for its population, according to the country’s top regulator.
While Financial Services Agency (FSA) Commissioner Junichi Nakajima has said he’s open-minded about the potential benefits that assets such as bitcoin possess as a quick and cheap way to send cash, in Japan they are currently mainly being used for speculation and investment, not as a means of transferring money. New challenges are coming from a broader proliferation of firms involved in decentralized finance, known as "DeFi," he said.
"We need to consider carefully whether it is necessary to make it easier for the general public to invest in crypto-assets,” Nakajima, 58, who became chief of Japan’s financial regulator last month, said in an interview.