Japan's financial regulator is ready to introduce new regulations for the Initial Currency Offers ( ICO ) in a bid to protect investors against fraud , local media Jiji Press reported Dec. 1.
According to the "informed" sources cited by Jiji, the commercial operators that carry out the ICOs must register with the Financial Services Agency of Japan ( FSA ).
According to reports, the agency plans to introduce bills that review the laws of financial instruments, stock exchanges and payment services to the ordinary parliamentary session that begins in January.
This action was undertaken "in view of several possibly fraudulent cases of ICO abroad" as a way to "limit the investment of individuals in ICO to protect them better".
Japan reported last month, the FSA Study Group on the virtual currency exchange industry held its tenth meeting to analyze ICOs. The tokens issued during the ICOs were classified into three categories: virtual currencies without an issuer, virtual currencies with an issuer and tokens with issuers that are also obliged to distribute the income.
According to the report, the first and second classification of tokens are subject to liquidation regulations, such as the Financial and Securities Instruments Act. The third of ICO's tokens is subject to investment regulations such as the Financial and Securities Instruments Law.