The Japanese government will likely promote the adoption of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in the sports industry.
Nikkei reports that the Liberal Democratic Party (also the ruling Party) has issued a white paper on the matter.
The white paper has yet to be published, Nikkei explained that the white paper will seek to clarify the legal picture for NFT issuers and their potential sports partners.
The Liberal Democrats have noted that “fantasy sports” are “popular abroad” and want to “encourage” domestic companies to enter the field.
Sports like baseball and soccer have a lot of followers in Japan.
As such, any Japanese NFT-supported fantasy league is sure to be a hit.
However, Japan’s strict anti-gambling laws can be a hindrance.
Japanese law prohibits most businesses from collecting shares from participants.
This can cause problems for fantasy sport operators using the NFT, as some require participants to pay an “entrance fee”.
Japanese media outlet CoinPost explains:
“If a Japanese sports organization provides a license to a foreign business operator and it is clear that the license is used for gambling, that organization may be guilty of abetting gambling. .”
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has repeatedly voiced the idea of developing the nation’s blockchain, metaverse, NFT and even cryptocurrency industries.
He highlighted the nation’s commitment to Web3-based business development at a meeting with investors in the UK last year .
