My friend said I need to cosplay Tayama—and honestly that’s my after-work vibes 🚬 And just in case, it’s a paper straw in my hand. #smokingbehindthesupermarketwithyou# #yamadacosplay#

Japan just cleared the path for spot crypto ETFs on the Tokyo Stock Exchange! The law passed reclassifies Bitcoin and about 105 other tokens as financial instruments, the same legal category as stocks. It opens the door to crypto ETFs by 2027 and puts Japan's crypto tax on a path from as high as 55% down to a flat 20%. For the largest pool of household savings outside the United States, that is a major change in access. This week, SBI Financial Services and gC Labs, a subsidiary of the gaming company Gumi (@gumi_pr), launched a fund called SBI Crypto Fund I, with Daiwa Securities (@DaiwaSecGroup) and Yamada Securities among the backers. The ¥3 billion vehicle, about $18 million, is a private placement closed to ordinary retail. It holds Bitcoin and major altcoins using staking and hedging, and Gumi says it is meant to build a track record before the ETF era arrives. The exchange side is already scaling. SBI VC Trade (@SBIVCTrade), the group's own platform, recently passed 2 million accounts, roughly double a year ago, and has listed regulated stablecoins including $USDC and Ripple's $RLUSD. Nomura's Laser Digital (@LaserDigital_) is moving into institutional trading and custody, bitFlyer (@bitFlyer) runs one of the country's largest licensed exchanges, and Daiwa now lends yen against Bitcoin and Ether.