PANews reported on November 7 that, according to Coinpost, Japan's Financial Services Agency held its fifth meeting of the "Crypto Asset Regulatory Working Group" of the Financial Services Council today. The group proposed to include crypto asset lending businesses under the regulatory scope of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and to consider setting an investment cap for IEOs (Initial Exchange Offerings).
Current regulatory loopholes allow lending platforms to operate without registration, placing credit and price volatility risks on users while exempting platforms from obligations such as asset segregation and storage. The new regulations will require platforms to establish robust risk management systems for re-lenders and collateral nodes, strengthen asset security management, and disclose customer risks; however, inter-institutional transactions will remain unrestricted. Regarding IEO regulation, the meeting proposed setting investment limits similar to equity crowdfunding rules (e.g., investments exceeding 500,000 yen cannot exceed 5% of annual income). However, some committee members pointed out that since IEOs immediately enter the secondary market after issuance, restricting primary market investment alone is insufficient to effectively control risk.


