Four Japanese agencies issued joint guidance urging real estate and crypto industry bodies to implement bank-style AML controls (customer due diligence, suspicious activity reporting, police notification) for property transactions involving crypto. The guidance warned that converting crypto to fiat on clients’ behalf could constitute unregistered crypto-asset exchange activity under the Payment Services Act, reminded firms of a ¥30 million foreign-received crypto reporting threshold under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act, and noted recent reclassification of crypto as financial instruments with tighter market-manipulation, disclosure and penalty rules.

The four agencies formally requested bank-grade AML controls for crypto-related property deals and warned that acting as intermediary fiat converters may be unregistered exchange activity; they also highlighted a ¥30M reporting threshold and the recent reclassification of crypto with tighter rules and penalties. These are concrete regulatory steps that increase compliance risk for firms operating in Japan, which is negative for crypto participants and could affect market activity.