matmeth.eth 🦇 🔊 🍵

Just wrapped my first conference in Tokyo 🇯🇵 @WebX_Asia. A few takeaways: * Japan is a sleeping giant in crypto. GDP close to Germany/India, population more than 2x larger than Korea, but relatively low retail trading volume today, and few world-stage crypto companies. Only ~5% of Japanese retail trades crypto vs ~25% in Korea. Why? * The main culprit is taxes. Crypto gains are taxed as income (55%) vs cap gains (20%). Crazily enough, until recently, they taxed unrealized gains (!!), making domestic TGEs impossible, as you'd owe a boatload of taxes immediately. This was recently repealed, but still need to fix the punitive tax rate. * This tax arbitrage is a big part of why MetaPlanet trades at a premium to NAV—buying a corporate shell of BTC is tax-advantaged vs trading BTC directly. * The Japanese Prime Minister and Finance Minister both spoke at WebX about crypto. (Bitcoin Las Vegas 2024 vibes?) Clear political vibe shift, probably following the US's lead. They promised to fix crypto tax treatment soon, but probably takes over a year? * Corporates drive a lot of the energy here, which is pretty unique. Most countries, grassroots retail leads and corporates follow late. But in Japan, you see SBI (major Ripple stake), Sony, Sega, Nomura, all moving fast and making big moves. * Lots of focus on NFTs/IP tokenization—Japan knows IP is one of its biggest global exports and are always looking for new ways to monetize it. * Like everyone else, they also see the finance angle. Recently approved a yen stablecoin ($JYPC), but not much distribution yet. * Retail loves XRP and ADA here. They’re cult assets, with their own communities separate from the rest of the scene. * Once Japan fixes its tax laws, I expect crypto adoption to accelerate here. For founders looking to expand to the Japanese market, localization + ground game + strong local partners are critical. Can't treat Japan as an afterthought, culture is very different. Edifying trip! Domo arigato Japan 🙏

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