Liberal Democrat Policy Research Council Chairman Hagiuda talks about expectations for Web3 “Giant platform dominates everything economically”

The international conference “WebX” (operated by CoinPost) about virtual currency (crypto assets), NFT, and Web3 opened on July 25 at the Tokyo International Forum.

On the first day, the high level of attention can be seen, such as the queue of participants waiting to exchange the admission pass.

In addition to domestic and foreign companies related to Web3 and virtual currency, the list of speakers also features politicians, officials from the Japanese government such as the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Financial Services Agency.

Koichi Hagiuda, Chairman of the Policy Research Council of the Liberal Democratic Party, gave the opening speech. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also sent a video message of about three minutes.

In the Web2 era, “big platform operators dominated everything economically”

In November 2022, the Kishida administration announced the “Startup 5-Year Plan”. He plans to expand investment in startups to “10 trillion yen within the next five years”. Mr. Hagiuda also mentioned the plan in his 10-minute speech.

Furthermore, Mr. Hagiuda expresses his expectations for Web3 as follows.

“The advent of innovation is driving the transition from Web2, where giant platform operators dominated the economy economically, to a new decentralized Internet era called Web3.”

Mr. Hagiuda said that over the past few years, the LDP’s NFT White Paper (March 2022), web3 White Paper (April 2023), and other proposals have positioned Web3 as part of Japan’s growth strategy in its basic policy (omitted). As the ruling party, we will reiterate our policy of continuing to promote the Web3 field.

The government is currently working on improving the business environment, such as establishing laws and guidelines related to Web3.

Mr. Hagiuda clarifies the 2020 tax system revision (crypto-assets issued and continuously held by oneself that meet certain requirements are exempt from year-end mark-to-market taxation) and the eligibility of NFTs for crypto-assets, according to Mr. Hagiuda.

In addition, compared to the rest of the world, Japan already has a high level of user protection regulations.”[Unlike other countries that are tightening regulations]politics, government and the private sector are working together to promote Web3.”and

Regarding virtual currency, the incident of the major virtual currency exchange “FTX”, which went bankrupt in November 2022, is still fresh in our memory. While the technology offers a sense of potential, there have been many incidents in which people are conscious of the high risks involved, such as becoming a hotbed for fraudulent products and malicious transactions.

There is also a degree of security concern about the concept of “NFT,” which is a technology that proves one’s ownership digitally, and the concept of Web3, which claims a decentralized ideal as opposed to the centralized Web2.

As long as the government has set it as one of its growth strategies, it is expected that legislation and guidelines will continue to be developed in the future.

What kind of atmosphere is the discussion going on in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party now? Finally, I would like to quote Mr. Hagiuda’s impressive reference at the end of his speech.