Cardano launches in Japan

The world’s third largest digital asset – Cardano (ADA) – has overcome stringent regulatory hurdles to finally launch on BitPoint in Japan.

After a week of pushing all-time highs, Charles Hoskinson’s brainchild has announced the listing of ADA following months of box-ticking for Tokyo’s strict crypto licensing regime.

The cryptocurrency will launch for Japanese customers on the country’s most popular exchange BitPoint.

By meeting Japan’s tight rules the project, Cardano has unlocked a special status – appearing for the time to being regulator-proof.

Japan’s tight crypto rules

Japan’s cryptocurrency and digital asset licencing regime comes as part of wider stringent financial controls aimed at protecting Japanese investors from financial volatility, scams, and mis-selling.

Tokyo’s regulatory agency – the FSA – has established a dedicated crypto section, as well as a panel of financial experts to help the government oversee digital and decentralised finance.

The agency is also responsible for keeping track of developments in cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiatives, and preparing a regulatory response.

However, some Japanese lawmakers believe current licencing isn’t strict enough with calls this week driving the Tokyo financial regulator to consider tightening the regulations urgently, amid a global regulatory atmosphere of anxiety about the crypto industry.

So far, the only other cryptocurrencies to make the cut are Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and LiteCoin (LTC).

This move comes at an exciting time for the Cardano project, with the public mainnet launch of Alonzo Purple on the horizon posited for September 12.

The network upgrade will deliver smart contract capabilities to ADA, and marks substantial progress for Hoskinson‘s famously long project roadmap – explaining the investor excitement driving the recent bullish Cardano price action.

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