# Japan FSA and JVCEA

> Japan FSA and JVCEA (Financial Services Agency · Japan Virtual and Crypto assets Exchange Association): A traceability test, applied by the industry body. Region: Asia-Pacific. Attribution required: A regulated firm must be able to attribute activity to an identified person, and assets or accounts that make that impossible are barred at the licensed perimeter. This is a rule about attribution, not about whether amounts are public.

Part of the Soda Labs Privacy Hub regulation map, which reads the instruments
themselves rather than summarising the summaries: https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation

## Key facts

- Entry type: Regulator or standard-setter
- Region: Asia-Pacific
- Subject: A traceability test, applied by the industry body
- Authority: Financial Services Agency · Japan Virtual and Crypto assets Exchange Association
- Stance on on-chain confidentiality: Attribution required. A regulated firm must be able to attribute activity to an identified person, and assets or accounts that make that impossible are barred at the licensed perimeter. This is a rule about attribution, not about whether amounts are public.
- Tags: traceability test, self-regulation, Green List, ordinance pending
- Canonical page: https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/reg-japan-fsa

## What it actually says

Japan is the clearest example of a rule written against untraceability rather than against named assets, and of that rule being applied by an industry body rather than a regulator. The self-regulatory handling rules have barred members since 2018 from dealing in any asset whose transfer records cannot be traced or are markedly difficult to trace, which is why the well-known privacy assets have been absent from Japanese venues for years without any instrument naming them. The 2026 legislation moves crypto into the securities framework, but leaves the substance of that test to a Cabinet Office Ordinance that has not yet been written.

## The instruments that matter

- **JVCEA handling rules, Article 4(3)**: members must not handle a crypto asset whose transfer records cannot be traced, or are markedly difficult to trace
- **The Green List**: as updated on 5 August 2026 it carries 30 assets and none of Monero, Zcash or Dash, though it is a widely-handled list rather than the permitted universe
- **Moving into statute**: legislation enacted 15 July 2026 shifts crypto from payments law into the securities framework, with the handling criteria delegated to Cabinet Office Ordinance rather than written into the act

## Sources

- [JVCEA Green List](https://jvcea.or.jp/statistics/document/greenlist/)
- [FSA bill materials](https://www.fsa.go.jp/common/diet/221/02/03.pdf)

## Related entries

- [Japan](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-japan): Untraceability barred by self-regulation, now moving into ordinance
- [APG](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/reg-apg): How the global standards actually reach Asia
- [Bangladesh](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-bangladesh): Barred through exchange control, not a crypto law
- [China](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-china): Crypto banned, and a state currency designed for anonymity
- [Hong Kong SFC](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/reg-hk-sfc): Retail exclusion achieved without naming anonymity
- [India](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-india): No crypto statute, regulated through AML and tax