Japan follows up on metaverse investment plans

Five months after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Japan would expand its investment in the Metaverse and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), 10 Japanese companies have joined forces to create the Metaverse economic zone.

According to Forkast News, on February 27, major Japanese companies such as Mitsubishi and Fujitsu signed contracts to build an open metaverse infrastructure.

The new infrastructure will be named “Ryukyukoku” and will support various services such as payment, identity verification, and insurance.

previous plan

Kishida has made Web3 development a pillar of Japan’s economic revitalization when he becomes prime minister in 2021. Since then, Japan has worked hard to increase her Web3 adoption and safety.

In October 2022, the country tightened Know Your Customer (KYC) rules for cryptocurrency exchanges and expanded money laundering penalties for all financial institutions.

Japan will also lift its ban on foreign-issued stablecoins in December 2022 and launch a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot program in 2023.

Japan’s most important lobbying group has been pressuring lawmakers to lower tax rates for cryptocurrency companies from early 2022. Lobbying groups claim that the current tax rate is hampering the rise of cryptocurrency startups in the region, significantly hampering Web3 adoption.

Journalist at CryptoSlate

Zeynep is an academic turned cryptocurrency in 2018. With a social science background, she has a particular interest in the social impact of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, and a strong believer in their transformative power.