Time to Appoint a ‘Minister of Web3’, Says NFT Policy-making Group of Japanese MPs

Japan Metaverse NFT Non-fungible tokens Politics Regulation

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Tim Alper

Tim Alper

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Tim Alper is a British journalist and features writer who has worked at Cryptonews.com since 2018. He has written for media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, and Chosun Ilbo. He has also worked...

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June 26, 2023 06:58 EDT

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The ruling Japanese political party’s new non-fungible token (NFT) task force has recommended that the government appoints a “Web 3.0 minister.”

As reported earlier this year, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has ruled Japan since 1955, launched an NFT policy task force, officially entitled the “NFT Policy Review Project Team” (literal translation). The group is headed by the LDP MP Masaaki Taira, and was created by the former Minister for Digital Transformation Takuya Hirai.

Per the Japanese media outlet CoinPost and a tweet from the LDP MP and taskforce member Akihisa Shiozaki, the group of party members has issued a “white paper” that explains that Japan must “drive innovation in the Web 3.0 era,” and that doing so will require the government to earmark the domestic NFT sector as a new growth engine.

The paper spells out the need to appoint a minister who would be in charge of Web 3-related matters, as well as “a cross-ministerial consultation desk.”

Further, the group called on the government to establish a set of rules to police secondary sales in the NFT market and allow for the management of cryptoassets in escrow services under certain conditions.

However, the group also appears to feel that the NFT sector is currently under-regulated in certain key areas – and wants to address this issue.

As such, the paper also recommends that the government end the unchecked issuance and sale of NFTs, and create a “mechanism for ensuring” the “safety” of investors.

The whitepaper also made mention of developments in the metaverse, with its authors stating that the government should “take the initiative” and help Japanese businesses establish global standards in the space.

The group was critical of the fact that Japanese NFT firms currently appeared to be “lagging behind” the rest of the world due to the fact that they are required to navigate a large number of regulations and tax-related hurdles. 

In a possible boost for the sector, the group opined that these hurdles were somewhat “excessive,” and remarked that “promising startup companies” in the space were choosing to relocate overseas as a result.

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