Japan Government to Consider Bitcoin as Legal Tender

Japan's Liberal Democratic Party plans to submit a bill that is expected to recognize Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as currencies. If the bill is passed, it means that Bitcoin may be subject to stricter supervision and taxation, and will also receive more investment in cryptocurrency infrastructure.

Tomonori Kanda, an official at the Finance Department of the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters, said that the possibility of legislative changes had been discussed internally on the 24th and the matter would be raised in parliament.

According to the Nikkei News, the bill was proposed by the Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan. However, an official from the FSA in Tokyo did not confirm the matter, saying that any legal changes must first be approved by Congress, and the FSA has not yet confirmed anything.

This is the first time since 2016 that a country has expressed its position on the identity of Bitcoin. In 2015, many countries also changed their attitudes towards Bitcoin. In September last year, Forex reported that the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) officially included Bitcoin in the scope of commodities and would regulate it in an orderly manner. After that, many non-compliant Bitcoin trading platforms were sanctioned by regulators. Many European countries, including the United Kingdom and Switzerland, exempted it from value-added tax. In the first half of last year, the Russian Central Bank softened its attitude and began to discuss the circulation and supervision of Bitcoin.