Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) has announced that it will implement the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) “travel rule” for the nation’s crypto industry to tackle money laundering.

• The Japanese regulator announced Wednesday the FATF rule requiring virtual asset service providers to share transaction data of senders and recipients will be adopted in the country by April 2022.
• The travel rule was created to prevent cryptocurrencies from being used for money laundering and terrorist financing.
• The FSA requested the Japan Virtual and Crypto Assets Exchange Association (JVCEA) advise its members to prepare for this implementation.
• South Korea’s Financial Services Commission brought anti-money laundering safeguards into force on March 25 to get in line with the FATF’s rules.
• This led to the South Korean arm of crypto exchange OKEx to decide to cease operations, citing the difficulty in navigating the new regulatory hurdles.

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