Today in crypto, Japan’s Financial Services Agency is weighing reforms that could let banks hold cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm warns open-source developers of retroactive prosecution. Meanwhile NFT marketplace OpenSea pivoting to a multi-asset exchange.
Japan’s FSA weighs allowing banks to hold Bitcoin, other cryptos
Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) is reportedly preparing to review regulations that could allow banks to acquire and hold cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin for investment purposes.
The move would mark a major policy shift, as current supervisory guidelines, revised in 2020, effectively ban banks from holding crypto due to volatility risks, according to a Sunday report from Livedoor News.
Per the report, the FSA plans to discuss the reform at an upcoming meeting of the Financial Services Council, an advisory body to the Prime Minister. The initiative aims to align crypto asset management with traditional financial products like stocks and government bonds.
Regulators are expected to explore a framework for managing crypto-related risks, such as sharp price swings that could impact a bank’s financial health. If approved, the FSA will likely impose capital and risk-management requirements before permitting banks to hold digital assets.
Roman Storm warns open-source developers of retroactive prosecution
Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm warned open source software developers, particularly those working on decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, that they could be retroactively prosecuted by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ).
Storm asked the DeFi developers in a Saturday X post: “How can you be so sure you won’t be charged by the DOJ as a money service business (MSB) for building a non-custodial protocol?”
“If the Southern District of New York (SDNY) can charge a dev for building a non-custodial protocol, who is safe? My case is still ongoing,” he continued.
The verdict in the Roman Storm case has major legal implications for open source software development in the United States and sets a dangerous legal precedent for developers, who are not currently protected from prosecution.
OpenSea rejects pivot from NFTs, says it’s evolving to ‘trade everything’
OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer has rejected claims that the company is pivoting away from non-fungible tokens (NFTs), saying instead that the marketplace is “evolving” into a universal platform to trade every type of onchain asset.
In a Friday post on X, Finzer announced that OpenSea’s October trading volume exceeded $2.6 billion, with over 90% of that amount coming from token trading, calling it the beginning of the platform’s transformation to “trade everything.”
“We’re building the universal interface for the entire onchain economy — tokens, collectibles, culture, digital and physical,” Finzer told Cointelegraph. “The goal is simple: if it exists onchain, you should be able to trade it on OpenSea, seamlessly across any chain, while maintaining complete control of your assets,” he added.
OpenSea was the first major NFT marketplace, launching in 2017 as a platform for buying, selling, and trading various non-fungible tokens. The platform remained the dominant player in the space until early 2023, when it lost momentum due to a combination of the overall NFT market crash and the rise of a major competitor, Blur.
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