Japan's PM Fumio Kishida Declares Support for Web3

Jul 25, 2023

The WebX Conference, Asia's largest global conference centered on digital technology, hosted a variety of key figures including Koichi Hagiuda, chairman of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party's Policy Research Council, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Both expressed their support for Web3 technology, with Hagiuda highlighting Japan's already established regulatory environment and commitment to foster Web3's growth, according to a report by CoinPost.

PM Kishida, on the other hand, emphasized the transformative potential of Web3 and its ability to lead to social change and voiced his hope that the conference would encourage new, globally influential projects, particularly within the Metaverse space.

In April, a group from Japan's Liberal Democratic Party shared a document with plans on how to grow the country's cryptocurrency industry. Their ideas include changing tax rules, making accounting rules clearer, and putting a law for decentralized online organizations into place.

The recommendations, part of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's "Cool Japan" technology promotion strategy, aim to establish Japan as a crypto-friendly jurisdiction and affirm its leading position in tech-neutral and responsible innovation.

Recently, All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan's largest airline group, has launched an NFT marketplace, ANA GranWhale, which features aviation photography and digital collectibles on the Ethereum blockchain.

In the meantime, Japan's finance ministry continues to evaluate the feasibility of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), despite the Bank of Japan's current lack of concrete plans for such a digital currency.