Japan's Financial Services Agency has approved Laser Digital Japan, a new crypto exchange that lists Shiba Inu among just six regulated cryptocurrencies. The approval, the country's first new exchange license in four years, follows a wave of retail adoption of the meme coin through Rakuten and Mercari.
Japan's Financial Services Agency approved the registration of Laser Digital Japan on Aug. 21, the digital arm of one of the country's largest investment holding companies. The regulator had not issued a new crypto exchange license in four years, making the approval a rare event in one of Asia's strictest markets.
The new platform enters the market with only six regulated cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and Shiba Inu. Clearing Tokyo's compliance requirements is difficult, and the short, conservative lineup underscores how selective the approval process is.
Green List clears the way for SHIB
Shiba Inu's inclusion became possible because the token appears on the Japan Virtual and Crypto Assets Exchange Association's "Green List", a roster of vetted tokens that local platforms can list through a simplified procedure. Unlike traditional retail exchanges, Laser Digital Japan was built to serve institutional capital. At first, the company will supply wholesale liquidity to local crypto platforms before it opens trading access to corporations and investment funds.
Retail adoption paved the road
The institutional listing builds on retail momentum SHIB already built in Japan this year. In April, e-commerce giant Rakuten opened token trading to its 44-million-user ecosystem and 5 million merchant locations, driving engagement through a June token giveaway campaign.
Around the same time, Japan's Mercari rolled out SHIB trading to its 24 million active users through its Mercoin unit, letting sellers convert secondhand-sales profits directly into the token. That campaign opened 4 million crypto accounts, and 85% of the new users had no prior digital asset experience.
Shiba Inu's official X account called the exchange listing "a new milestone for SHIB in Japan". As a result, the token is shedding its label as just a meme token and moving toward status as a regulated financial instrument in the country tied to its origins.
Source: U.Today
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