Japan Approves First New Crypto Exchange in Four Years Under Current Regime

Japan has approved its first new crypto exchange operator in four years under the current regulatory regime. Laser Digital Japan, the Japanese arm of Nomura's digital-asset subsidiary Laser Digital, completed registration as a crypto asset exchange service provider on August 21.

The firm is listed under Kanto Local Finance Bureau Director No. 00032 and has an initial asset scope covering Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and Shiba Inu. Laser Digital Japan will initially focus on supplying liquidity to existing crypto exchange service providers before extending digital-asset trading services to institutional clients.

'Japan's digital assets market is entering a new phase of maturity,' said Jez Mohideen, Laser Digital's co-founder and CEO.

The approval comes as Japan's parliament passed legislation reclassifying crypto assets as financial products under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. This will bring stricter oversight, including insider-trading rules, closer to how Japan regulates securities.