Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) has amended a Cabinet Office Ordinance to recognize certain foreign trust-type stablecoins as “electronic payment instruments” under the Payment Services Act. The new rules, announced under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, take effect on June 1, 2026.
The amendment allows foreign trust beneficiary rights-based stablecoins issued by overseas trust banks to be handled domestically by registered electronic payment providers, avoiding classification as securities.
To qualify, issuers must operate under foreign laws comparable to Japan's banking or payment regulations and be supervised by authorities that can cooperate with the FSA. Reserve assets require proper management and independent audits, and issuers need systems to counter criminal misuse, including transaction suspension. Reserve assets and the displayed monetary denomination must match in currency. Each stablecoin is assessed case-by-case based on liquidity, credit risk, redemption reliability, and audit quality.
The move aligns with global stablecoin regulation, following Europe’s MiCA and the US GENIUS Act of 2025.