Japan’s Lower House reportedly passed a bill that would bring crypto assets under the country’s financial instruments framework, potentially opening a path to exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and lower tax treatment for digital assets.
The bill would move crypto assets closer to the regulatory treatment of stocks and bonds by subjecting them to stricter trading rules, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. The legislation is expected to take effect next year after going through the Upper House.
The proposed changes could lower the capital gains tax on crypto assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) from a current maximum of 55% to a 20% flat rate, in line with stocks and bonds. The tax change is expected to take effect in 2028.
Official records showed the bill had cleared the Committee on Financial Affairs on June 10, although the bill-tracking page had not yet updated the plenary vote field at the time of writing.
Status of the bill on the House of Representatives website. Source: House of Representatives of Japan
Japan shifts crypto into a financial-market framework
The latest parliamentary advance follows months of signals that Japan was preparing to shift crypto from a payment-focused regime into a financial-market framework.
In November 2025, media outlet Asahi Shimbun reported that the Financial Services Agency (FSA) had decided to apply the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act to crypto, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and other tokens handled by local exchanges.
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FSA materials dated April 2026 said the proposal would move crypto-asset transaction rules from the Payment Services Act to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.
The FSA said the bill would treat crypto assets as financial products separate from securities, while introducing disclosure rules, tighter exchange oversight, insider trading restrictions and stronger penalties for unregistered operators.
The proposed framework would also require crypto-asset transaction business operators to publish information on the assets they handle, while issuers of certain assets would face disclosure requirements when conducting offerings or secondary distributions.
The shift could also open the door to crypto-tracking ETFs in Japan, giving local investors a regulated route to digital asset exposure beyond crypto exchanges and listed companies with token holdings, Bloomberg reported.
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