Japan’s Financial Services Agency announced a personnel appointment on Aug. 7 as part of an organizational reshuffle, creating a new division dedicated to the oversight of crypto assets and stablecoins. Toshiaki Adomi was appointed as the first section chief of the new unit. According to the announcement, the division will be responsible for supervising crypto assets, described in the source as virtual currencies, as well as stablecoins. The move places both areas under a newly defined internal structure at the FSA. Adomi graduated from Osaka University’s law faculty in 2002 and joined the agency the same year. He later earned an MBA from the University of Birmingham and a master’s degree in law from the London School of Economics. During his career at the FSA, he has held roles covering bank supervision and policy coordination. Since July 2025, he has served as councillor in the Strategy Development and Management Bureau. As of Aug. 1, 2026, he had also served as chief councillor for supervision of postal savings and insurance.

Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) has published a partial revision to its Comprehensive Supervision Guidelines for Major Banks, etc., a move reported by CoinPost. The proposed amendment would standardize cybersecurity incident report formats across 17 regulatory fields, a group that includes crypto asset exchange service providers. Under the revised regime, affected operators would file using a single common template. The draft also introduces a new “Common Format for Other Cyberattack Incidents,” which complements the existing dedicated formats for DDoS attacks and ransomware. Together, the three formats form a reporting system that distinguishes among the main incident categories. A transitional arrangement is in place: until the end of March 2027, operators that are not designated as social infrastructure providers may continue to use the old report forms rather than the new template. The FSA is inviting comments on the draft revision and will accept submissions from interested parties until September 7, 2026.

Japan’s Financial Services Agency and the National Police Agency have jointly asked the Japan Virtual and Crypto assets Exchange Association to tighten anti-fraud controls across the crypto trading sector, according to CoinPost. The request, issued on Aug. 6, covers exchanges of all sizes and sets out 11 measures focused on pre-registered withdrawal addresses, stricter transaction surveillance, stronger identity checks, and closer coordination with police. The move comes as investment scams conducted through social media and romance scams known as “pig-butchering” continue to rise, with some illicit proceeds reportedly flowing directly into exchange accounts. Under the new requirements, exchanges will need to verify the authenticity of identity documents submitted at account opening, warn users that buying and selling accounts is illegal, and restrict withdrawals for a certain period after fiat deposits or crypto purchases. New withdrawal addresses must be screened before activation, and withdrawal limits are to be set based on customer risk assessments and transaction purposes. Exchanges are also expected to respond quickly to suspicious transactions, including by restricting trading or freezing accounts when necessary.

Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) and the National Police Agency have sent a joint letter to the Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA), demanding that crypto exchanges strengthen anti-fraud protections, ChainCatcher reported, citing CoinPost. The letter outlines 11 specific requirements, including pre-registration of withdrawal addresses, stronger transaction monitoring, and stricter identity checks at account opening. Exchanges would also be required to impose withdrawal limits for a set period after users deposit fiat or purchase crypto assets. The move comes as investment scams and “pig-butchering” fraud spread rapidly on social media, with criminals increasingly using crypto accounts to move illegal funds. The FSA suggests exchanges set withdrawal caps based on customer risk levels and transaction purposes, freeze or restrict accounts immediately upon detecting suspicious activity, and improve intelligence sharing with police. System upgrades that cannot be implemented quickly may be phased in. Separately, the FSA has formally established a “Crypto Assets and Stablecoins Division” to oversee related regulation.

Japan’s Financial Services Agency will create a dedicated Crypto Assets and Stablecoins Division on Aug. 7, raising crypto oversight from a scattered advisory-level function to a formal section-level unit. According to the agency’s reorganization plan published in its Access FSA bulletin, the new office will supervise cryptocurrency exchanges and electronic payment instruments, which the report identifies as stablecoin operators. The move forms part of a broader restructuring of the FSA, in which the Comprehensive Policy Bureau will be reorganized into the Asset Management and Insurance Supervision Bureau, while the Supervisory Bureau will be renamed the Banking and Securities Supervision Bureau. The new crypto division will sit under the reorganized Asset Management and Insurance Supervision Bureau. ABMedia described the change as the FSA’s largest organizational overhaul since the inspection bureau was abolished in 2018. The report also noted that Japan’s recent work on crypto ETFs and tax reform, combined with the higher regulatory rank for crypto oversight, points to digital assets being handled as a mainstream financial category requiring a dedicated regulator.

Japan’s Financial Services Agency said on July 24 that it had completed a proof-of-concept project on anti-money laundering information sharing for crypto assets and electronic payment instruments under its FinTech PoC Hub. The pilot, run from March to May 2026, was designed to test whether private-sector participants could exchange risk data across institutions, including suspicious blockchain addresses, transaction data, risk classifications, risk scores, and the basis for those assessments. The project was proposed and led by Hitachi, Ltd., with more than 15 organizations taking part. Participants included Aozora Bank, yen stablecoin issuer JPYC, GMO Coin, Chainalysis Japan, NEC, and Rakuten Wallet. According to the FSA, the trial covered three monitoring models: post-transaction reviews, real-time pre-transaction assessments, and token monitoring for issued electronic payment instruments. All three were found to be workable in practice. The agency said cross-institution information sharing could expose industry-wide risk patterns that a single exchange or company might miss on its own. It also said a combination of rule-based screening and machine learning helped identify known sanctioned entities as well as newly emerging suspicious patterns. At the same time, the FSA stressed that system alerts alone were not enough and that institutions must verify alerts themselves before restricting a transaction, while also putting data governance safeguards in place.

Japan’s FSA added 30 jurisdictions to its crypto travel rule framework on April 25, 2025, bringing the total to 58 and widening cross-border reporting obligations for regulated crypto and stablecoin transfers.

Ripple and SBI have launched the RLUSD stablecoin in Japan via SBI VC Trade, following FSA approval under the Payment Services Act. The move strengthens Ripple’s regulated stablecoin presence in Asia.