Legislation that defines digital currencies as legal payment method went into effect on April 1, 2017 in Japan. Japan’s Financial Services Agency released the text of the law on March, 24. The Accounting Standards Board of Japan has said it will soon start work on creating a framework to put digital currency in the proper context within the accounting sector.

People with virtual currency can treat it as inventory on their balance sheets, while issuers can tag it as a liability, but there are no specific references to virtual currencies in accounting standards, leaving companies without any guidance.

A Fuji Chimera Research Institute study reveals that approximately $1.7 billion of cryptocurrency was in circulation throughout Japan in 2015. That amount is expected to increase to nearly $9 billion by 2020.