Japan and South Korea Take Steps to Regulate Cryptocurrency Market
Japan's National Tax Agency (NTA) has introduced a new tax system called KSK2 to enhance the detection of undeclared crypto assets. The system consolidates previously scattered data and applications for different tax types, enabling the agency to analyze and verify tax returns more efficiently. According to CoinPost, the KSK2 system will use annual transaction reports from crypto exchanges, bank fund records, and overseas tax information exchange data to identify potential omissions in crypto asset transaction filings.
The Ministry of Finance has also established a research panel to study the feasibility of real-time settlement for government bond transactions using blockchain technology. The panel will analyze the pros and cons of on-chain settlement and explore its implementation challenges. The research group will reference cases of money market fund products backed by treasury securities that can be traded on blockchains, with the goal of compiling key discussion points within the year.
In other news, South Korea's virtual asset market capitalization has declined by 33% in the past six months to 58.9 trillion won (approximately 43.4 billion US dollars). The number of market users has increased by 0.4% to around 11.17 million, while the total KRW deposits held by traders have fallen by 35% to 5.2 trillion won. South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) has proposed expanding tokenized securities to include traditional securities such as stocks, bonds, and funds.
Additionally, SBI Holdings has completed its full acquisition of Japanese crypto exchange Bitbank for approximately 46.7 billion yen. The acquisition will allow Bitbank to leverage SBI's financial capabilities, customer base, and resources to expand its digital asset business. Coins.ph, a leading local crypto platform in the Philippines, has been restricted from receiving incoming funds via InstaPay and PESONet due to regulatory concerns.