Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) is set to propose new legislation in 2022 that will restrict the issuance of stablecoins to banks and wire transfer companies, as part of its effort to cut potential risk from asset-backed stablecoins, such as Tether. With the new legislation, companies engaged in stablecoin transactions, such as wallet providers, will be subject to certain rules like verifying users’ identities and reporting suspicious transactions as a way to prevent money laundering. The news was first reported by Nikkei Asia on Dec. 7. Stablecoins are a new class of cryptocurrencies designed to have a stable price relative to traditional currencies, or to a commodity such as gold, making them less volatile than other digital assets. They are typically used to facilitate trading, lending, or borrowing of other digital assets, predominantly on or through digital asset trading platforms and exchanges. The digital coins are typically created or “minted” on the …