Overview
- Six firms — Nomura Asset Management, SBI Global Asset Management, Daiwa Asset Management, Asset Management One, Amova, and Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management — are reported to be evaluating crypto-focused investment trusts.
- Japan’s Financial Services Agency is characterized in local reporting as leaning toward permitting virtual-currency investment trusts, though no products have been approved.
- The contemplated trusts would use familiar investment-trust structures to provide managed crypto exposure to both retail and institutional investors.
- SBI’s asset-management arm is considering a mandate that could focus on Bitcoin, Ethereum, or a diversified basket of cryptocurrencies.
- The shift follows years of regulatory caution after major exchange failures and reflects pressure from overseas moves such as U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF approvals and the EU’s MiCA framework, with broader FSA reforms under discussion.