In April, Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) for the first time clearly identified JPYC—the issuer of Japan’s first Japanese yen stablecoin—as a “fund transfer service provider” in “Access FSA.” FSA officials said that JPYC, together with payment services such as PayPay and Rakuten Pay, is categorized as “fund transfer” in terms of economic function—that is, users use Japanese yen to obtain JPYC, and once the stablecoin circulates, the final holder redeems for Japanese yen. Under Japan’s current laws, foreign exchange transactions are mainly handled by banks and fund transfer service providers; JPYC must provide protection of users’ funds exceeding 100% in accordance with the relevant framework. (CoinPost)