Japan's FSA asks cryptocurrency industry group to introduce FATF Travel Rule

Japan has made another step toward adopting cryptocurrency Anti-Money Laundering regulations developed by the Financial Action Task Force, Cointelegraph Japan reports.

The Japanese Financial Services Agency announced Wednesday that it will adopt the FATF’s Travel Rule — a set of regulations requiring virtual asset service providers to share transaction data for senders and recipients — by April 2022. “It is required to introduce and implement the Travel Rule regulations in each country,” the FSA noted.

The FSA requested the Japanese Virtual Currency Exchange Association, a local self-regulatory crypto organization, to prepare for the implementation of the Travel Rule:

“From the perspective of ensuring the proper and reliable execution of the crypto asset exchange business, we will examine the accurate implementation of the travel rule in terms of technology and operation. We would like the JVCEA to establish a necessary system, so please inform the members of the association.”

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the FATF introduced the Travel Rule in 2019, which provides a number of measures to prevent cryptocurrencies from being used for money laundering and terrorist financing.

A member of the FATF since 1990, Japan was among the most receptive jurisdictions to the Travel Rule directive alongside other Asian countries like South Korea and Singapore.

The news comes soon after the FATF released an update to the original Travel Rule for public consultation in February 2021.