Japanese financial, judicial, and real estate authorities have jointly announced guidance on the potential misuse of cryptocurrency for money laundering. Through the guidance, the authorities stated, "Cryptocurrencies have the characteristic of being transferable instantly between countries and can be used as a means of payment in real estate transactions for money laundering purposes." According to the joint guidance, real estate brokers must perform customer due diligence procedures in accordance with Japan's Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds and report suspicious transactions to the authorities. Furthermore, if there are circumstances indicating criminal involvement, they must notify the police. This measure aims to apply anti-money laundering (AML) standards equivalent to those in the traditional banking sector to cryptocurrency real estate transactions.
