Japan’s blockchain group lobbies for tax change

In This Article:

In this issue

  1. Japan’s crypto tax law: An industry group urges tax change

  2. Don’t write off Bitcoin NFTs

  3. Litecoin’s halving: Prices fall

From the Editor’s Desk

Dear Reader,

The only two certainties in life may be death and taxes – at least according to U.S. founding father Benjamin Franklin – but for the digital asset industry in Japan, those two ugly twins morph into one: death by taxes.

The Japan Blockchain Association’s recent request for a rethink of Japan’s high taxation of cryptocurrency activity can thus be seen as a cry for help, of sorts, from an industry lobby that may not have much industry left to lobby for if crypto and other digital asset businesses continue to depart Japan due to those taxes.

Yet a look around the region should also serve as a reminder that favorable tax rates are not everything. Other East Asian jurisdictions seeking to develop as digital asset hubs offer crypto taxes much kinder than Japan’s, but other ingredients of the not-so-secret sauce that can bring digital asset companies to the table aren’t always on the menu.

South Korea’s forthcoming rules framework, which is set to find expression in the country’s Digital Asset Basic Act next year, promises to go a long way toward providing regulatory certainty for digital asset businesses, yet we’re not witnessing a rush on Seoul.

Hong Kong has done much touting of its own supposedly crypto-friendly regulatory arrangements, even though in reality they’re quite restrictive.

And Singapore, true to form, has made it clear that digital assets are welcome if they’re run by TradFi and off limits to the “little people”.

If governments want to mix the sauce right, they need to take a holistic approach to supporting the digital asset ecosystem and not simply hope that lower taxes might do the trick. In short, they need to step up and do just what they would for any other promising new industry.

It seems almost too easy. So what are policymakers waiting for?

Until the next time,

Angie Lau,
Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Forkast.News


1. Call for change

Japan crypto tax
Japanese policymakers have said that Web3 would be a force in transforming the global social economy, and pledged more support for the industry. Image: Canva

Japan Blockchain Association (JBA), a non-government lobbying group of the blockchain industry, last Friday petitioned the Japanese government to revise tax on crypto assets — Japan’s biggest barrier for foreign Web3 companies — as Tokyo positions itself to become a global crypto hub and center of digital innovation.

  • A crypto asset tax is the biggest barrier that Web3 companies face when setting up shop in Japan, followed by obstruction to crypto adoption among citizens, JBA said in its petition that called for three major changes to Japan’s tax system for crypto assets.