FSA crypto-asset exchange registration system — number system / Local Finance Bureau jurisdiction / registration requirements

Confidence: Likely Updated 2026-05-19 Review by 2026-09-21 Sources 3 Machine-translated Original (JA)
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System overview

Through the amended Payment Services Act enacted 2017-04 , Japan introduced, ahead of the rest of the world, a registration system for the crypto-asset exchange business. Operators that were in business at the time of enactment were provisionally permitted to continue operating as “deemed operators” and transitioned to full registration in sequence. The 2019 年 legal amendment unified the former term “virtual currency” as “crypto-asset,” and the business-category name also became “crypto-asset exchange business.” The competent authority is the Financial Services Agency (FSA), and the practical point of contact is each Local Finance Bureau.

Registration number system

The registration number is in the format “{Director-General of the Local Finance Bureau} No. NNNNN.” The smaller the number, the earlier the registration. The main jurisdictions are as follows:

5 pillars of registration requirements

  1. Capital of 1,000 万円 or more (coexisting with the requirement of positive net assets)
  2. Net assets must not be negative
  3. Establishment of a business-execution framework (compliance / internal audit / system-risk management)
  4. Segregated management of user assets (money in trust, crypto-assets in cold wallets as a principle)
  5. AML/CFT framework (transaction-time verification / suspicious-transaction reporting under the Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds)

Flow from registration to JVCEA membership

Completion of FSA registration → application for membership in JVCEA, the certified payment-service-providers association → assignment of a JVCEA membership number (placed under self-regulation). In practice, FSA registration and JVCEA membership are operated as a set, and the related legal-and-regulatory framework forms part of Japan Financial Regulation — Legal Framework for Tokens, Crypto Assets, and Payments.


来源: 公的情報(fsa.go.jp 公表免許リスト、elaws 法令データベース、各社公表資料)