Japanese House of Representatives lawmaker and Liberal Democratic Party finance committee chair Seiji Kihara said at the WebX 2026 forum that the amendments to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act currently under review in the Diet will further shift regulation of crypto assets from being treated as a means of payment toward being treated as an investment commodity, and will lay the institutional groundwork for blockchain to enter the traditional financial system. Kihara Seiji and other attendees said that crypto asset ETFs, taxing crypto asset income separately from other income at an approximately 20% tax rate, and allowing trading losses to be used to offset future profits can help attract traditional financial institutions and institutional investors to the market. Attendees also discussed issues such as liability reserve requirements and easing the current two-times leverage limit. (CoinPost)