Japan Makes Impressive Moves In Crypto

As the tug of war continues between regulators, policymakers, and innovators, bold developments still arise as the dawn of the new era of financial transactions widens.  Recent reports indicate that Japan has just made a move that will impact your international currency moves.

According to a recent report from Reuters, Japan is said to be leading the creation of an international cryptocurrency payments network similar to banking network SWIFT.  This effort is intended to combat money laundering and was approved last month by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

The network is an initiative from Japan’s Ministry of Finance and the Financial Services Agency (FSA) watchdog. A team from the international money laundering task force is set to monitor development of the project, which will be conducted alongside other nations.

Given Japan's discussion concerning regulatory issues around Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency as well as general cryptocurrency issues addressed during both the G20 and G7 meetings, this move is said to be fast-tracked by the country.

Largely as a result of the Gox breach, one of the country's more notable crypto exchange hacks, Japan has been one of the most proactive countries when it comes to regulation of cryptos. To wit, only two years ago the country created a licensing procedure for exchanges and amended its financial rules to allow bitcoin as a legal payment method.

Watch for further moves in the space as more players enter the industry as well as country's re-position in order to try and retain power.