Wealth-focused commentator Kamilah Stevenson says Japan has taken a step the United States has yet to match: reclassifying XRP, Bitcoin, Ether and roughly 100 other cryptocurrencies as financial products rather than primarily payment instruments.

The claim matters because the legal label attached to crypto can determine how banks, funds and retail investors are allowed to use it, and it can also affect how the assets are taxed and packaged for broader market access.

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In the video, Kamilah Stevenson argues that Japan’s shift would place crypto closer to stocks and bonds within a framework familiar to regulated financial institutions. “The box that it sits in decides everything about how it’s treated,” she says, pointing to product access, investor protections and tax treatment.

A tax shift is central to the argument

Stevenson says Japanese crypto investors previously faced tax rates as high as 55% on gains under a miscellaneous-income approach. She says the new framework would move crypto gains to a flat 20% rate, matching the treatment of stock profits.

Using a hypothetical ¥100,000-equivalent gain, she contrasts a potential 55% tax bill under the old approach with an 80% after-tax return at a 20% flat rate. The video also says Japan is adding a three-year loss carry-forward provision, allowing investors to offset future gains with prior losses.

Those details should be watched closely, however. The YouTube video presents the changes as enacted policy, but investors should verify the legal status, implementation date and precise asset coverage through Japanese regulators or tax authorities before making decisions based on the stated rates.

ETFs and XRP integration remain the bigger market question

Stevenson frames the reclassification as groundwork for crypto exchange-traded funds on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, describing ETFs as a more accessible route for retirement funds, cautious institutions and investors unwilling to manage wallets or exchange accounts directly.

She also highlights SBI’s longstanding relationship with Ripple and says one of Japan’s largest financial groups has been preparing a fund involving Bitcoin and XRP. Her broader point is that XRP is not being treated as an afterthought within Japan’s digital-asset ecosystem, but the practical rollout will depend on how regulators, tax authorities and financial firms apply the new classification in market products.