Japan's supervision of virtual currency
European and American countries are actively monitoring. Germany is the first country to recognize bitcoin and other digital assets as private property. The US CFTC (US Commodity Futures Commission) has identified bitcoin as a commodity. The state of New York has issued three bitlicenses
the situation in Asia is different. Japan actively supports it. In April this year, Japan implemented the payment services act, officially recognizing bitcoin as a legal payment method
South Korea is actively monitoring. In July, South Korea's "bitcoin Regulation Act" came out, setting a threshold of 500 million won for investors
China has strict supervision. In September, the people's Bank of China and other seven ministries and commissions jointly issued the "notice on preventing the financing risk of token issuance", which stipulates that in China, trading platforms shall not engage in the exchange business between legal tender and "virtual currency".
in view of the possible risks of virtual currency, many international organizations and central banks have responded publicly to the supervision of virtual currency system. These responses can be roughly divided into four categories: warning and risk warning, supervision and registration permission, legislative norms, and explicit prohibition
(1) warning and risk warning
some central banks and regulators have issued risk warnings against the special currency and virtual currency system. The federal financial regulatory authority of Germany, the Bank of France, the central banks of the Netherlands and Belgium have issued public warnings against the possible money laundering and terrorist financing caused by the use of bitcoin. In the report released at the end of 2013, the European Banking authority (EBA) warned consumers of many risks of virtual currency, such as exchange loss, e-wallet theft, unprotected payment, price fluctuation and so on. Although Spain did not have a similar risk warning, it issued a timely information announcement related to virtual currency
(2) supervision and registration license
generally speaking, international organizations believe that the supervision of virtual currency should find a balance between risk prevention and innovation promotion. Since 2012, Sweden has required transactions related to virtual currency to be registered with financial regulators. Other countries pay attention to qualification supervision, so as to make it indirectly meet the requirements of prudential supervision. In other countries, the regulation mainly focuses on the business model of virtual currency transaction. The financial prudential regulatory authority of France regards the provision of bitcoin circulation and trading services and the act of earning funds in the process as a payment service and requires the authorization of the government. In addition, some countries focus on the intermediary institutions related to virtual currency. The German federal financial regulatory agency and Danish regulators believe that the provision of intermediary services for virtual currency needs to be authorized< (3) legislative norms
at present, some countries have proposed legislation to regulate virtual currency transactions. Canada plans to legislate to allow the government to supervise the transaction of bitcoin, and to include the transaction of more than US $10000 into the scope of suspicious supervision. The United States hopes to adjust the relevant legal structure should be compared with the development of the special currency. In order to make the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) applicable in the context of network, the financial crime enforcement network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued the explanatory guidance on the behavior and subject definition of private generation, holding, distribution, trading, acceptance and transmission of virtual currency in 2013. The European central bank stressed that it should strengthen international cooperation under the existing legal framework, and regulate virtual currency from the European and global level under the existing legal framework. More countries believe that bitcoin is not a currency in circulation, has no legal status, and does not meet the definition of financial instruments, such as Finland, Sweden, Malaysia and Indonesia
(4) it is forbidden
in some countries, bitcoin related transactions are prohibited. In December 2013, the people's Bank of China banned financial institutions from trading in bitcoin, which was subsequently extended to payment service providers. The central banks of Thailand and Indonesia share the same attitude. The circulation of anonymous internet currency (including bitcoin) is prohibited by the Russian judicial inspection department as a substitute for currency. The Central Bank of Russia has earlier included the provision of bitcoin services in the scope of suspicious transaction monitoring. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has banned the issue of unregistered shares in exchange for bitcoin, and unregistered online securities trading activities in virtual currency.
Japan is also the first country in the world to legislate on virtual currency. Just in April last year, Japan's "change of capital payment law" was formally established. Virtual currency is defined as having the function of currency and can be used for monetary payment. Moreover, some time ago, the tycoons of the domestic currency circle also went to Japan one after another to learn from Japan
Finally, the popularity of virtual currency in Japan is also the intentional guidance of the Japanese government. The emergence of virtual currency gives the Japanese government a new "future". The Japanese government hopes to establish a monetary system independent of the U.S. regulation through virtual currency, so as to revive its so-called great power statushowever, we should also see that Japan's too loose virtual monetary environment has also led to many negative problems. For example, the frequent theft of virtual currency makes the Japanese government have to intervene in the asset security of the virtual currency market. As a result, Japan has strengthened the supervision of virtual currency, and the virtual currency market has become a bit quiet - exchanges such as hotcoin and BIGone have even given up Japanese language services
the FSA said that it would put Japan's digital currency exchange under a comprehensive regulatory framework, including monitoring the internal system of the exchange, checking the customer asset protection mechanism, and possible on-site inspection. At the same time, the FSA requires digital currency exchanges including bitcoin to implement a more stringent KYC policy than at present. Exchanges must begin to verify the identity of account users, keep transaction records, and report suspicious transactions to regulators
the conditions for the registration and establishment of Japanese digital currency dealers:
the establishment of a Japanese corporate company
leasing Japanese office
three Japanese employees are employed, one of whom is a director of a Japanese company
Japanese companies open bank to company accounts
there is a normal trading system (Japanese version is not required)
provide KYC information (specifically prepare the government information list)
the services include company registration before obtaining the license, assistance in leasing office space, assistance in recruitment of company employees, preparation of audit reports in cooperation with accounting firms, AML and KYC reports, business plans, all compliance documents to be submitted to FSA prepared with Japanese law firms, and answering all questions raised by FSA
in the process of obtaining a digital currency dealer license and in the process of future operation, traders must employ at least three employees, at least one of whom has a digital currency or bitcoin background or financial background
follow up maintenance: first, ensure the normal operation of the Japanese office and the daily work system of employees. Annual financial and audit reports should be submitted to the financial department of Japan every year. The contents of the reports are large, including the transaction details of virtual currency, the number of customers, the number of traders, the handling fees, the amount of customers' funds, etc. After obtaining the license, all the operation related expenses need to be paid by the dealer.
in this bill, the Legislative Council defines bitcoin as an asset rather than a currency. People can use it as a way of payment for transactions
relevant units have also put forward requirements that service providers or exchanges operating in bitcoin must register with the Prime Minister of Japan, and the capital scale must not be less than 10 million yen. They must have information technology systems that can prevent theft and loss, and must establish a variety of systems and processes, involving training, internal regulations, governance, outsourcing guidance, etc
the amendment bill also amends the prevention of the transfer of proceeds of crime act. Regulators have asked bitcoin to implement a more stringent "know your customer" process than it currently does. The exchange must verify the identity of the account opening user, keep the transaction records, and report the suspicious transaction records to the regulatory authorities.
At the G20 meeting, different countries held different views on digital currency, some strongly resisted it, and some actively supervised it. Now let's take a look at the attitudes of the G20 countries towards digital currency
In a statement, the Canadian Securities Regulatory Agency (CSA) said that considering the whole process of ICO issuance, many ICO tokens meet the definition of securities and require them to comply with the securities law. In addition, the CSA noted that ICOS may also be derivatives, subject to derivatives laws passed by Canadian securities regulators, including trade reporting rules. Regulators said they welcome companies that are about to conct ICO to enter the "regulatory sandbox" to test new financial procts in a limited environmentIndia
the securities and Exchange Commission of India is planning guidelines for the regulation of the bitcoin market in India. In addition, the securities and Exchange Commission of India set up a financial regulatory commission and held meetings with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials. The SEC also plans to regulate whether bitcoin derivatives and other cryptocurrencies are used to raise funds illegally