International Regulator Appoints New ‘Crypto Regulations’ Chief

International financial authority the Financial Stability Board (FSB) has appointed one of Japan’s top cryptocurrency regulators as its new leader.

The FCB said, per an official release, that it had appointed Ryozo Himino, the Vice Minister for International Affairs of his country’s Financial Services Agency, as the new chair of the FSB’s Standing Committee on Supervisory and Regulatory Cooperation.

Himino will serve a two-year term and replaces Norman Chan, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

Under Himino’s stewardship, the FSA has introduced an exhaustive set of cryptocurrency regulations in Japan, and has been active in the country’s push to get the G20 to adopt similar policing measures for cryptocurrency exchanges and projects.

The FSB has previously stated that it will not allow Facebook to launch its Libra token without close “scrutiny,” and Japan’s Excite News reports that Himino will “lead the creation of a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies such as Libra.”

The FSB polices financial institutions in 24 countries and jurisdictions, including most of Europe’s major powers, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, Japan and China.

Himino took up his current position at the FSA in 2016, and the following year oversaw the introduction of a licensing system for cryptocurrency exchanges.

Perhaps interestingly for Facebook, during this time, the FSA also introduced a law that states that any token classed as a stablecoin is exempt from regulation in Japan. A number of senior politicians and lawmakers in Japan have expressed their enthusiasm for Libra, and lawyers in the country have stated that they consider it likely that the FSA will indeed treat Libra to be a stablecoin.