Japan's amended Payment Services Act takes effect, recognizing Bitcoin as a legal means of payment

On April 1, 2017, Japan's amended Payment Services Act came into force, classifying Bitcoin and other virtual currencies as a legal means of payment and requiring crypto exchanges to register with the Financial Services Agency. Japan thus became the first major economy to put a formal licensing regime around exchanges, briefly making it a regulated crypto hub. Notably, this recognized Bitcoin as legal property for payment, not as legal tender in the strict government-issued sense, a distinction the headlines mostly ignored.