Steps have been taken to prevent virtual currencies being misused. Bills have been adopted by the government to revise the related laws that are used to regulate virtual money. The aim is that during the current Diet session these bills will be passed.

developed through cryptographic technologies by the private sector. Virtual currencies are mainly circulated on the Internet. At the moment it is believed that there are 600 kinds of virtual currencies and they can be used to pay for shopping and for money transfers.

The United States, major European countries and others have already introduced regulations.

In Japan though, virtual currencies are not yet subject to financial transaction regulations as they are thought as of goods.

Within the law revision measures need to be taken to secure transparency in trading and to protect users.

Virtual money does need to impose laws and regulations considering the state of affairs at home and abroad.

There are concerns globally about the high degree of anonymity that virtual currencies provide. The concern is that virtual currencies can be used to fund acts of terrorism and launder money that has been acquired through illegal means.

The legislation that is being talked about calls for online operators of virtual currencies to register their business with the regulator, by making them confirm the identity of users at the time when they opened their accounts, to keep their trading records and to report any suspicious activity.