Crypto assets and Non-Fungible Token (NFT) are property values that can be exchanged over the Internet without going through a third party such as a bank. With the development of blockchain technology and encryption technology, they have rapidly widespread in our society in recent years. Not only for transactions for speculation purposes, but areas utilizing NFT are expanding, such as business use and development of services for consumers regardless of the scale of companies and industry.
Generally, applicable laws and regulations in Japan for crypto assets and NFTs are not yet at a mature stage. Also, in addition to laws, regulations such as guidelines have been established by self-regulatory organizations, making the application of regulations complex as well as it has become necessary to constantly understand the status of the latest regulations in order to provide crypto assets or NFT related services. Moreover, crypto assets and NFTs may be subject to different regulations depending on the nature of their tokens, the services they are combined with, the mode of transaction, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the application of a wide range of regulatory laws and regulations, including the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, the Payment Services Act, the Act for Regulation, etc. of Receiving of Capital Subscription, Deposits, Interest on Deposits, etc., the Act on Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations Act and the Penal Code.
In our firm, a team consisting of lawyers, including a lawyer who has been a general counsel of self-regulatory organizations for crypto-assets, provides advice and support from a cross-sectoral perspective in various fields of law, such as providing governmental agency with analysis on services related to stablecoins, providing advise to NFT transaction website platform providers, counseling to online service providers on the construction of NFT transaction business structures, and advising foreign IT companies on the establishment of token issuance businesses in Japan.
Handled cases related to the clearance under the Payment Services Act for mining business and investigations into the regulatory status of stable coins in the U.S.
Advised on the possibility of SAFT.
Advised Singapore ventures on Web3.0 businesses, including crypto assets and NFT.
