Japan mulls allowing local banks to buy and sell crypto: reports

Japan's Financial Services Agency may allow local banks to trade and hold cryptocurrencies, local news outlets reported Sunday.

According to a report from Yomiuri Shimbun, the FSA is planning to discuss potentially reforming the current supervisory guidelines that ban domestic banks from holding digital assets due to price volatility. 

The aim of the policy reform is to establish a system allowing banks to buy and sell crypto like stocks and government bonds, the report said. The agency also plans to create regulatory guardrails to mitigate financial risks from the potential update. The FSA is set to discuss the reform at an upcoming meeting of the Financial Services Council, an advisory body to the Prime Minister.

Furthermore, the FSA is also considering allowing banks to register as crypto exchanges to form an easier environment for retail investors to participate in the crypto market, via trusted banking institutions.

Meanwhile, the FSA has been putting efforts to make digital asset trading a fair market, as it reportedly plans to file amendments that would explicitly prohibit trading based on non-public information, with violators facing financial penalties proportional to their illicit gains.