Japan is a very different country when it comes to cryptocurrency activity. With its open-minded approach and legitimization of Bitcoin, an interesting situation has been created. It now seems officials will subject crypto investors to credit evaluations.
Another Positive Regulatory Development
In Japan, cryptocurrency regulation has become rather interesting to keep an eye on. More specifically, it seems there has been a growing focus on legitimizing this particular industry, even though other countries across Asia are taking a far more negative approach in this regard. While Japan may be the odd duck in the pond right now, its regulators are continuously working to bring more legitimacy to Bitcoin.
Their latest venture comes in the form of credit evaluations. Reports suggest that the current goal is to introduce “invasive credit checks for cryptocurrency investors”. While that may sound strange at first, there is a clear method to this madness. With this new measure, the government aims to further crack down on any money laundering activities taking place through cryptocurrencies. It’s a positive development, although its actual impact remains unclear at this stage.
To pull off this massive undertaking, the government will collaborate with the Japan Credit Information Service and independent information research firms. Any suspicious cryptocurrency users will be investigated and evaluated accordingly. It will introduce a lot of changes to Japan’s cryptocurrency ecosystem, although it is evident things will only improve from here on out.
As is always the case, this decision was not made randomly. There have been growing concerns regarding the use of cryptocurrency by Yakuza members. Whether or not there is any truth to rumors of Japan’s major crime organization using cryptocurrency is unclear.
Accessing personal information of suspicious cryptocurrency traders and matching it with credit scores will yield some interesting results. It is not overly difficult to determine whether or not someone has laundered money, as even cryptocurrencies leave a trail of digital breadcrumbs to follow. Especially now that all anonymous currencies are no longer allowed to be traded in Japan, cracking down on illicit activities has become a lot easier, at least on paper.
It is expected that the Japanese government will introduce additional regulatory guidelines in the coming months. What those regulations might entail exactly is unknown at this time. Every change can be considered a positive development for all cryptocurrencies in Japan, though, as bringing more legitimacy to this growing industry is direly needed.
Ethereum has entered an era of increased competition, from projects like EOS, HashGraph, DFINITY, and others. At the same time, several projects, dApps and protocols, are going live on mainnet. Scaling continues to be an ongoing concern in terms of both competition and the ability to handle the network load. It is an opportune time to discuss scaling solutions while network use is experiencing a nadir, otherwise, patchwork fixes and band-aids may lead people elsewhere, in both usage and future development work. The details of several scaling solutions, like the transition to PoS from PoW, are actively being discussed and conceptualized.
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