PANews reported on January 5th, citing CoinPost, that Japan's Minister of Finance and Financial Affairs, Saki Katayama, stated at the Tokyo Stock Exchange's New Year opening ceremony that 2026 will be designated as the "Year Zero of Digital Assets," emphasizing the crucial role of commodity and securities exchanges in promoting the widespread adoption of digital and blockchain assets. She pointed out that to ensure the public truly benefits from digital assets, their adoption should be driven by exchange infrastructure. She also mentioned the trend in the US of using ETFs to hedge against inflation, implying that Japan should actively promote similar developments, and stated that as Minister of Finance, she will fully support exchanges in creating an advanced digital asset trading environment.