Not every instrument is backed by its official text yet. At least one law or rulebook covered here has no official source (tier 1) retrieved for it yet. No finding on this page is shown with confidence above “Probable” until stronger sources are retrieved.

Financial Integrity Monitor

Japan JP

Domains (D1–D6)
4
Sources
12
Role actions
8
Horizon <90d
2
Jurisdiction profile
Largely CompliantTier ARisk: StableEnforcer

Japan runs an integrated AML/CFT/CPF framework under the APTCP, PSA and FIEA, supervised by the FSA/JVCEA with JAFIC (under the National Police Agency) as FIU.

MoreFollowing its 2021 MER, Japan is now compliant on 4 and largely compliant on 35 FATF Recommendations with none rated partially compliant, reflecting sustained technical remediation, though effectiveness gaps in DNFBP supervision, legal-person misuse prevention and ML/TF prosecution persist.

Key deficiencies
  • Beneficial ownership registry (est. Jan 2022) applies only to stock companies (kabushiki kaisha), with no equivalent mechanism for membership companies, associations or foundations
  • Low volume of ML/TF prosecutions relative to the scale of organised-crime (Boryokudan) and fraud proceeds
  • Supervision of DNFBPs (lawyers, notaries, accountants) remains an area FATF has repeatedly flagged as needing prioritisation
  • NPO sector outreach on TF-abuse risk does not extend to NPOs outside Japan's formal legal framework
Recent developments (18m)
  • FATF's October 2024 3rd Enhanced Follow-Up Report re-rated Japan to largely compliant on Recommendations 7, 8, 12, 22 and 23
  • JFSA approved JPYC as Japan's first legally sanctioned yen-pegged stablecoin (November 2025), built on Elliptic AML/CFT screening
  • JFSA finalised a crypto-exchange cybersecurity policy in 2026 following a February-March 2026 public consultation, prompted by escalating exchange hacks region-wide
  • DMM Bitcoin, hacked for $305m by DPRK-linked actors in 2024, wound down and transferred customers to SBI VC Trade by March 2025
  • JFSA is reviewing reforms to let banks hold/invest in crypto assets and operate exchanges, and is targeting 2028 for crypto ETP approval
Brief

Lead signal

Lead Signal

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Lead Signal

Japan's Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry jointly designated 33 Russian entities, 9 individuals, 4 Turkish or UAE entities, and, for the first time, 35 individual vessels under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act (FEFTA) on 2 October 2026, with transitional performance of pre-existing contracts permitted until 1 November 2026. This is Japan's first-ever vessel-level shadow-fleet designation, restricting insurance, maritime transport, crew, and repair services to the named tankers carrying sanctioned Russian oil. The move brings Japanese sanctions practice structurally closer to the vessel-level designation methods already used by the EU and UK against the Russian shadow fleet, though Japan's FEFTA-based autonomous list remains a separate architecture from Western consolidated lists rather than merging with them.

Other Developments

Beneficial-ownership reform is moving from voluntary to mandatory. The Government of Japan is expected to submit a bill requiring mandatory corporate beneficial-ownership reporting, covering individuals and others who directly or indirectly hold more than 25% of a company's voting rights, to the Legal Affairs Bureau, at the Diet session convened 5 October 2026. If enacted, this would close Japan's sole structural gap among G7 states on mandatory legal-person beneficial-ownership disclosure, a gap flagged under FATF Recommendation 24 in Japan's 2021 fourth-round Mutual Evaluation. Japan's existing Beneficial Ownership List System, operational since 31 January 2022 through the Ministry of Justice, has operated on a voluntary registration basis; the new bill would convert this into a mandatory filing obligation at corporate formation.

Crypto-asset market integrity is being materially reclassified. The FIEA/PSA Partial Amendment Act, enacted 15 July 2026, moves approximately 105 'specified crypto-assets', including Bitcoin and Ether, from Payment Services Act payment-instrument treatment into Financial Instruments and Exchange Act financial-instrument treatment. This imports insider-trading prohibitions and mandatory issuer disclosure, and raises the maximum penalty for unregistered crypto-asset-related business from three years' to ten years' imprisonment. Stablecoins and non-fungible tokens remain outside this new perimeter. Commencement is targeted for fiscal year 2027.

Supervisory accountability for AML/CFT programmes has been tightened. The Financial Services Agency's revised AML/CFT Guidelines, effective 31 March 2026, make senior management directly accountable for AML/CFT programmes and give supervisors direct access to board-level AML/CFT reports, responding to effectiveness gaps identified in FATF's 2021 Mutual Evaluation.

Cross-Monitor Connections

The vessel-level sanctions designation and the broader FEFTA-based autonomous sanctions architecture are directly relevant to world-payments' correspondent-banking and payment-corridor tracking, since insurance, transport, and settlement restrictions on named vessels have a direct bearing on trade-finance flows involving Japanese financial institutions. The crypto-asset reclassification under the FIEA connects to the crypto monitor's licensing and market-integrity tracking, where the same enacted amendment is tracked for its direct effect on exchange operators and token issuers. The beneficial-ownership reform, if enacted, would be relevant to advennt's casino-supplier corporate-structure due diligence, since Japan's land-based IR casino supply chain sits within the broader set of non-listed domestic corporations the proposed bill would cover.

Outlook

The Diet session convened 5 October 2026 is the key date to track for the beneficial-ownership reporting bill; whether it is submitted as expected, and in what form, will determine whether Japan's FATF Recommendation 24 gap closes on the reported trajectory toward a spring 2028 commencement target. The FIEA 'specified crypto-asset' regime's commencement, targeted for fiscal year 2027, is the second date to track, since it will bring the insider-trading and disclosure obligations, and the higher criminal-penalty ceiling, into force for Japan's crypto sector. Japan's FEFTA sanctions list is likely to continue extending incrementally in response to Russian shadow-fleet evasion patterns, following the precedent set by the 2 October 2026 vessel-level designation.

weekly_brief_draft · JID JP
Domain intelligence (D1–D6)

D1 Sanctions

Sanctions

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Japan's sanctions architecture extended on 2 October 2026 with its first-ever vessel-level designation. The Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry jointly designated 33 Russian entities, 9 individuals, and 35 individual shadow-fleet vessels under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act, alongside a 4-entity third-country export ban targeting Turkish and UAE entities. Transitional performance of pre-existing contracts is permitted until 1 November 2026.

This is the first time Japan has restricted insurance, maritime transport, crew, and repair services to specific named tankers rather than designating only corporate or individual entities. The mechanism targets vessels carrying sanctioned Russian oil, aligning Japan's practice structurally with the vessel-level designation methods the EU and UK have used against the Russian shadow fleet. This is a methodological convergence rather than a structural merger: Japan's FEFTA-based autonomous sanctions list continues to track Western designations in substance while remaining administratively and legally separate from EU, UK and US consolidated lists. The third-country export ban targeting Turkish and UAE entities signals continued attention to circumvention routes beyond direct Russian-entity designation.

No FATF list movement affecting Japan occurred this cycle, and Japan's standing position under FATF Enhanced Follow-Up, compliant on 4 Recommendations and largely compliant on 35, is unchanged. This sanctions development should be read as an escalation within Japan's existing autonomous architecture rather than a change to that architecture's structural relationship with FATF-driven or EU/UK/US-aligned sanctions regimes.

Outlook

The precedent set by this first vessel-level designation makes further extensions of Japan's shadow-fleet list a plausible next step, particularly as Russian evasion tactics continue to adapt. The 1 November 2026 transitional-performance deadline is the near-term date to track for how strictly Japan enforces wind-down of pre-existing contracts with the newly designated vessels and entities.

D2 Beneficial Ownership

Beneficial Ownership and Corporate Transparency

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Globally, the EU AML Package sets the structural direction for beneficial-ownership and corporate-transparency reform: the AML Regulation (AMLR, Regulation (EU) 2024/1624) applies directly across the EU, the sixth AML Directive (6AMLD) is transposed per Member State, and the AMLA Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/1620) establishes the Anti-Money Laundering Authority, shifting supervision of cross-border obliged entities from purely national authorities toward a hybrid EU-level regime. Japan sits outside this EU AML Package perimeter entirely, as an autonomous non-EEA jurisdiction; the Package is not directly relevant to Japan's own BO reform trajectory, but it remains useful durable backdrop against which to read the direction of travel in comparable jurisdictions.

In Japan itself, the directly relevant development this cycle is domestic: the Government of Japan is expected to submit a bill to the Diet session convened 5 October 2026 requiring mandatory corporate beneficial-ownership reporting, covering individuals and others who directly or indirectly hold more than 25% of a company's voting rights, filed with the Legal Affairs Bureau. If enacted, this would close Japan's sole structural gap among G7 states on mandatory legal-person beneficial-ownership disclosure, a gap flagged under FATF Recommendation 24 in Japan's 2021 fourth-round Mutual Evaluation.

Japan's existing Beneficial Ownership List System, operational since 31 January 2022 through the Ministry of Justice, currently operates on a voluntary registration basis; a beneficial owner under this system is defined as a natural person or other party recognised as directly or indirectly holding more than one-quarter of a company's total voting rights. The proposed bill would convert this voluntary mechanism into a mandatory filing obligation applying to all non-listed domestic corporations, and certain foreign corporations with a Japan nexus, at the point of corporate formation. The underlying bill text was not yet publicly available at the time of this research, which caps confidence in the reform's final scope and timeline at Probable rather than Confirmed.

Outlook

Whether the bill is actually submitted at the 5 October 2026 Diet session, and in what form, is the key near-term marker. A reported commencement target of around spring 2028 would align with Japan's broader pattern of multi-year implementation runways for major compliance reforms. If enacted as described, this would materially reduce enabler-jurisdiction risk associated with opaque Japanese corporate structures over the medium term, a risk previously concentrated around the voluntary nature of the existing BO List System.

D3 Enabler Jurisdictions

Not covered

Enabler Jurisdictions is not yet covered for this jurisdiction in this report.

D4 Conflict Finance

Not covered

Conflict Finance is not yet covered for this jurisdiction in this report.

D5 Crypto / Digital Assets / Financial Innovation

Crypto, Digital Assets, and Financial Innovation

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Japan's crypto-asset market-integrity perimeter is undergoing its most significant reclassification to date. The FIEA/PSA Partial Amendment Act, enacted 15 July 2026, moves approximately 105 'specified crypto-assets', including Bitcoin and Ether, out of Payment Services Act payment-instrument treatment and into Financial Instruments and Exchange Act financial-instrument treatment. This shift imports insider-trading prohibitions and mandatory issuer disclosure obligations that previously applied to crypto-assets only through industry self-regulation rather than binding statute. The maximum criminal penalty for operating an unregistered crypto-asset-related business rises from three years' to ten years' imprisonment once the amendment commences, a near fourfold increase in exposure for non-compliant operators. Commencement is targeted for fiscal year 2027, roughly a year after enactment.

Stablecoins and non-fungible tokens are expressly excluded from this new 'specified crypto-asset' perimeter and remain governed separately, creating a bifurcated digital-asset regime for the duration of the transition period: a hardening financial-instrument perimeter for the reclassified token category, alongside a continuing payment-instrument-style treatment for stablecoins. This bifurcation is itself a typology-relevant structural feature, since it creates an incentive, at least in principle, for market participants to characterise a token's economic function in a way that keeps it on the lighter-touch side of the boundary during the transition window.

The reclassification materially raises the compliance and enforcement bar for Japan's crypto sector generally, extending statutory insider-trading and disclosure obligations, and criminal-penalty exposure, to a product category previously governed by a comparatively lighter payment-services framework.

Outlook

The commencement date for the 'specified crypto-asset' regime, targeted for fiscal year 2027, is the key date to track, since it will bring the insider-trading prohibitions, disclosure obligations, and higher penalty ceiling into actual force. Until then, Japan's crypto sector operates in a transitional period where the enacted law exists but enforcement powers under it are not yet exercisable. The treatment of the stablecoin/NFT carve-out as the broader reclassification proceeds is a secondary marker worth monitoring for any sign of scope expansion.

D6 Compliance Technology & Active Defence

Compliance Technology and Active Defence

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Japan's Financial Services Agency revised its AML/CFT Guidelines, effective 31 March 2026, to make senior management directly accountable for AML/CFT programmes and to give supervisors direct access to board-level AML/CFT reports. This is a supervisory-expectation shift rather than a new statutory obligation: the revision responds to effectiveness gaps that FATF identified in Japan's 2021 fourth-round Mutual Evaluation, where technical compliance with the FATF Recommendations was found stronger than the practical, outcomes-based effectiveness of Japan's AML/CFT system.

The practical effect of this guideline revision is that AML/CFT oversight can no longer be delegated to the compliance back-office alone; financial institutions' senior management bears direct accountability, and supervisors can now review board-level AML reporting directly rather than relying solely on compliance-function reporting channels. This is a governance-layer intervention aimed at closing the effectiveness gap between Japan's technically compliant rulebook and its demonstrated AML/CFT outcomes, a distinction FATF's Mutual Evaluation methodology treats as materially different from technical-compliance scoring alone.

This development should be read alongside Japan's broader standing FATF position: compliant on 4 Recommendations and largely compliant on 35, under Enhanced Follow-Up pending its fifth-round Mutual Evaluation. The guideline revision is one of the concrete steps Japan has taken in response to the effectiveness concerns that Enhanced Follow-Up status itself reflects.

Outlook

The guideline revision's practical effect will become more visible as supervisors begin exercising the new board-level reporting access in routine examinations. Whether this translates into measurable improvement in Japan's AML/CFT effectiveness scoring ahead of its fifth-round Mutual Evaluation is the key medium-term marker to watch, since that evaluation will test outcomes rather than rule-adoption alone.

D7 AML/CTF Regime

Not covered

AML/CTF Regime is not yet covered for this jurisdiction in this report.

D8 Commercial Activity

Not covered

Commercial Activity is not yet covered for this jurisdiction in this report.

Regulatory horizon
Adopted2027-Q2 · ±half_year

FIEA 'specified crypto-asset' regime commencement

Roughly 105 crypto-assets move from PSA payment-instrument treatment to FIEA financial-instrument treatment.
Proposed2028-Q2 · ±year

Mandatory Beneficial Ownership Reporting Act (new standalone law)

All non-listed domestic corporations and certain foreign corporations with a Japan nexus will have to file BO identity data with the Legal Affairs Bureau at formation.
2 dated · 4 pending date · baseline fim-2026-07-07
Role action cards
MLRO

Japan's FSA revised AML/CFT Guidelines now make senior management directly accountable for AML/CFT programmes.

Reporting lines for AML/CFT oversight can no longer run solely through the compliance back-office; MLRO functions dealing with Japanese entities should expect supervisors to request direct access to board-level AML reporting.

2 evidence refs
Compliance

A mandatory beneficial-ownership reporting bill is expected at Japan's 5 October 2026 Diet session, and a crypto-asset reclassification is moving toward fiscal year 2027 commencement.

Compliance functions with Japanese corporate or crypto-sector exposure should track both the BO-reporting bill's passage and the FIEA 'specified crypto-asset' commencement date, since both will introduce new filing and disclosure obligations.

2 evidence refs
Legal

Japan's first-ever vessel-level shadow-fleet sanctions designation took effect 2 October 2026, with transitional contract performance permitted until 1 November 2026.

Legal counsel advising on Japan-linked trade finance or shipping contracts involving the 35 newly designated vessels should assess wind-down obligations against the 1 November 2026 transitional deadline.

2 evidence refs
Board

Japan's crypto-asset market-integrity perimeter is being reclassified, raising criminal-penalty exposure for unregistered crypto business from 3 to 10 years once the FIEA amendment commences.

Board-level oversight of crypto-exposed Japanese operations should factor in the materially higher penalty ceiling and new insider-trading exposure expected around fiscal year 2027 commencement.

1 evidence refs
CTO

Japan's FIEA reclassification extends insider-trading and disclosure obligations to roughly 105 crypto-assets, with no change yet to stablecoin or NFT treatment.

Technical and product teams building on Japanese crypto infrastructure should track which specific tokens fall within the reclassified 'specified crypto-asset' list, since reclassified tokens will carry disclosure and market-surveillance obligations stablecoins and NFTs do not.

1 evidence refs
Risk

Japan's first-ever vessel-level sanctions designation and its BO-reporting reform both signal a tightening enabler-jurisdiction and sanctions-evasion risk environment.

Risk functions should factor the new vessel-level designation mechanism into shadow-fleet exposure models for Japan-linked trade finance, and track the BO-reporting bill as a medium-term reducer of opaque-corporate-structure risk.

3 evidence refs
Operations

No material change this cycle.

No material change for this persona this cycle

Audit

FSA's revised AML/CFT Guidelines now give supervisors direct access to board-level AML reports, changing the evidentiary trail auditors should expect supervisors to request.

Internal audit scopes covering Japanese AML/CFT programmes should anticipate supervisor requests for board-level reporting documentation as part of routine examination, not only compliance-function records.

1 evidence refs
Decision lens
MLRO

Japan's FSA revised AML/CFT Guidelines now make senior management directly accountable for AML/CFT programmes.

Compliance

A mandatory beneficial-ownership reporting bill is expected at Japan's 5 October 2026 Diet session, and a crypto-asset reclassification is moving toward fiscal year 2027 commencement.

Legal

Japan's first-ever vessel-level shadow-fleet sanctions designation took effect 2 October 2026, with transitional contract performance permitted until 1 November 2026.

Board

Japan's crypto-asset market-integrity perimeter is being reclassified, raising criminal-penalty exposure for unregistered crypto business from 3 to 10 years once the FIEA amendment commences.

CTO

Japan's FIEA reclassification extends insider-trading and disclosure obligations to roughly 105 crypto-assets, with no change yet to stablecoin or NFT treatment.

Risk

Japan's first-ever vessel-level sanctions designation and its BO-reporting reform both signal a tightening enabler-jurisdiction and sanctions-evasion risk environment.

Operations

No material change this cycle.

Audit

FSA's revised AML/CFT Guidelines now give supervisors direct access to board-level AML reports, changing the evidentiary trail auditors should expect supervisors to request.

Shared evidence: 5 refs
Scenario sketches

AMLA direct-supervision transition reshapes cross-border evasion routing away from EU obliged entities

As the AMLA Regulation (Reg (EU) 2024/1620) transition moves select cross-border obliged entities from purely national supervision toward AMLA direct or indirect supervision, alongside directly-applicable AMLR (Reg 2024/1624) obligations and per-state 6AMLD transposition, illicit-finance actors could, in principle, probe for supervisory gaps during the handover period, or shift activity toward non-EEA corridors, such as autonomous-sanctions jurisdictions like Japan, where supervisory architecture remains purely national. This is an illustrative structural scenario, not an observed development.

Illustrative scenario for analytical orientation only. Not compliance advice, not a prediction, and not a statement of observed fact.

Bifurcated crypto-asset perimeter creates transitional characterisation arbitrage

As Japan's 'specified crypto-asset' category moves into FIEA financial-instrument treatment while stablecoins and NFTs remain outside that perimeter, a token issuer or intermediary could, in principle, structure product characteristics to keep a token on the lighter-touch side of the classification boundary during the transition window ahead of fiscal year 2027 commencement. This is an illustrative structural scenario, not an observed development.

Illustrative scenario for analytical orientation only. Not compliance advice, not a prediction, and not a statement of observed fact.

Standing trackers (T1–T6)
TrackerStatusNote
T1 · Russian Sanctions-Evasion ArchitectureescalatingJapan's first-ever vessel-level (35 ships) shadow-fleet designation alongside 33 entities/9 individuals and a 4-entity third-country export ban.
T2 · EU AML Package / AMLAno_changeNot applicable: Japan is an autonomous jurisdiction outside the EEA and is not bound by AMLR/6AMLD/AMLA.
T3 · FATF Grey Listno_changeJapan remains off the FATF grey list, compliant on 4 Recommendations and largely compliant on 35, subject to Enhanced Follow-Up pending its 5th-round evaluation.
T4 · Beneficial-Ownership Register StatusimprovingJapan moves from a voluntary 2022 BO-list mechanism toward a mandatory BO-reporting statute, targeting commencement around spring 2028.
T5 · Crypto & Digital-Asset Integritymaterial_changeFIEA reclassification of ~105 crypto-assets plus PSA stablecoin ordinances and a new dedicated FSA Cryptoasset and Stablecoin Business Division materially expand Japan's crypto AML/market-integrity perimeter.
T6 · Sanctions Regime DivergencewatchJapan's FEFTA-based autonomous list continues to track, but not merge with, EU/UK/US designations; the 2026-10-02 package extends Japan's own autonomous reach via third-country entities.
Registers

Enforcement actions

  • Following the May 2024 theft of approximately 4,502.9 BTC ($305m) attributed to DPRK-linked actors, JFSA-supervised restructuring saw DMM Bitcoin cover customer losses via group support, cease independent operations, and transfer its customer accounts and assets to SBI VC Trade, a subsidiary of SBI Group. 31 Mar 2025
  • JFSA granted JPYC Inc. approval to issue Japan's first legally sanctioned yen-pegged fiat stablecoin under the Money Transfer Business Act framework introduced via 2023 PSA amendments, conditioned on AML/CFT compliance including real-time wallet and transaction screening. 26 Nov 2025
  • Amid escalating global cyberattacks on crypto exchanges (including Japan's DMM Bitcoin and the $1.5bn Bybit hack), JFSA ran a public consultation (10 Feb-11 Mar 2026, 18 comments) on strengthening cybersecurity of crypto exchange operators, building on Financial System Council Crypto Asset Working Group recommendations, and finalised a supervisory cybersecurity policy in 2026. 1 Apr 2026

Sanctions changes

  • The EU's September 2025 Delegated Regulation 2025/2003 amended the Annex I dual-use items list under Regulation (EU) 2021/821, maintaining Japan's status as a designated 'partner country' eligible for EU General Export Authorisations (EUGEAs), which streamline dual-use export licensing between the EU and aligned G7 partners including Japan. 1 Sep 2025
  • UK OFSI/OTSI guidance on countering Russian sanctions evasion (published in updated form in 2026) explicitly names Japan alongside the EU and US as a coordinating partner in G7 enforcement efforts against Russian sanctions circumvention via third-country transhipment. 12 Mar 2026

Regulatory horizon (register)

  • JFSA stablecoin trust-reserve asset rules finalisation
  • JFSA review of bank crypto custody/investment and exchange licensing
  • Japan's 5th round FATF mutual evaluation
  • JFSA target for crypto exchange-traded product approval

Active schemes

  • [CRITICAL] DPRK crypto-exchange hacking as WMD-financing pipeline
  • [HIGH] Third-country transhipment of Japanese-origin dual-use tech to Russia
  • Stock-company-only BO registry leaves other legal forms opaque
  • [HIGH] Boryokudan (Yakuza) front-company laundering networks
Sources
  1. Financial Action Task Force (multilateral first-party assessment of Japan)
  2. FATF / Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering
  3. Financial Action Task Force
  4. JAFIC, National Police Agency of Japan
  5. Chainalysis
  6. TRM Labs
  7. Elliptic
  8. OCCRP
  9. Bloomberg Professional Services
  10. UK Government (OFSI/OTSI/HMRC)
  11. European Commission
  12. United Nations
Coverage gaps
Japan's beneficial-ownership mechanisms (shareholder registr…
Japan's beneficial-ownership mechanisms (shareholder registry plus the January 2022 BO list) apply only to stock companies (kabushiki kaisha); membership companies, associations and foundations have no equivalent capture mechanism, a gap FATF assessed as insufficiently addressed to upgrade Recommendation 25 in its 2023 follow-up.
FATF's 2021 MER found the number of ML prosecutions in Japan…
FATF's 2021 MER found the number of ML prosecutions in Japan low compared to the scale of drug-related and organised-crime (Boryokudan) proceeds, and flagged that supervision of financial institutions and DNFBPs (lawyers, accountants, notaries) needs continued prioritisation; subsequent follow-ups have not resolved this effectiveness concern.
The UN Security Council's failure (Russian veto, 28 March 20…
The UN Security Council's failure (Russian veto, 28 March 2024) to renew the 1718 Committee's DPRK Panel of Experts mandate removed the primary independent international mechanism for verifying and reporting DPRK sanctions-evasion typologies; Japan, as a directly exposed regional state and vocal UNSC critic of the veto, now has materially reduced access to authoritative multilateral evasion intelligence.
Prior to 2026, Japan's crypto-exchange cybersecurity supervi…
Prior to 2026, Japan's crypto-exchange cybersecurity supervision lacked a unified, mandatory framework, a gap exploited in the 2024 DMM Bitcoin hack ($305m) and consistent with the region-wide pattern of DPRK-linked exchange compromises culminating in the $1.5bn Bybit hack in February 2025.

Evidence

Confidence-tiered claims

A bill requiring mandatory corporate beneficial-ownership reporting (25%+ voting-right holders) to the Legal Affairs Bureau will be submitted at the Diet session convened 2026-10-05 SRC-fim-JP-005
Probable · 1 source
33 Russian entities, 9 individuals, 4 Turkish/UAE entities, and 35 shadow-fleet vessels designated under FEFTA on 2026-10-02, with transitional performance of pre-existing contracts permitted until 2026-11-01 SRC-fim-JP-001
Confirmed · 1 source
For the first time, Japan restricts insurance, maritime transport, crew and repair services to 35 'shadow fleet' tankers carrying sanctioned Russian oil SRC-fim-JP-002
Probable · 1 source
Approximately 105 'specified crypto-assets' (including Bitcoin and Ether) are moved from the Payment Services Act into the FIEA, importing insider-trading prohibitions, mandatory issuer disclosure, and raising unregistered-operation penalties from a 3-year to a 10-year maximum prison term SRC-fim-JP-008
Probable · 1 source
FSA's revised AML/CFT Guidelines (effective 2026-03-31) make senior management directly accountable for AML/CFT programmes and give supervisors access to board-level AML reports SRC-fim-JP-007
Probable · 1 source
Japan is compliant on 4 Recommendations and largely compliant on 35, under Enhanced Follow-Up since its 2021 4th-round Mutual Evaluation SRC-fim-JP-006
Probable · 1 source