As Japan Opens up Crypto Regulations, EDCON 2025 Heads to Osaka

EDCON 2025 Ethereum Conference Returns to Osaka

Ethereum’s Flagship Conference Returns September 16-19 with keynotes from Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation’s Adrian Li.

EDCON 2025, coming to Japan for the 8th World Edition, has positioned itself opposing Japan's proposal for reclassification of crypto as a financial instrument and institutional interest in Ethereum working for increase in ETH. The intention of EDCON was to bring the Ethereum community in Osaka to chat about important matters such as protocol evolution, development of financial products, and outright-fuck-the-reality adoption. 

The event, taking place from the 16th to the 19th of September at Congrès Square Grand Green, is expected to attract 6,000-plus developers, researchers, founders, and policymakers, being organized in collaboration with various public-sector and private-enterprise partners, including Osaka Innovation Hub.

This year's EDCON will take place as a segment of the larger Global Startup Crossroads–Osaka. Conchranizing events around this time would be the Global Startup EXPO 2025 at the Osaka–Kansai Expo.

"Hosting EDCON in Osaka strongly demonstrates support for local entrepreneurs in pursuing innovative technologies that will sustain Osaka in the future," said Osaka Prefecture and Osaka Business Development Agency (Osaka Innovation Hub). "That dovetails very well with recent developments in the cryptocurrency regulations of Japan, placing the vibrant business community of Osaka in a unique position to take full advantage of new opportunities."

Keynote speakers this year include Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation, featuring participation from prominent L2s and DeFi protocols, alongside Japanese enterprises and institutions of finance.

From Policy to Real-World Infrastructure

Japan’s FSA has recently offered crypto being considered under and governed by the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA). The move heralds being more aligned with institutional counterparts and so would allow for licensed ETFs, reduced capital gains tax, and incorporation of stablecoins into the banking system, fintechs, and public infrastructure.

Such a policy will lay the groundwork for EDCON 2025's primary focus: building compliant and scalable infrastructure on Ethereum from protocol upgrades to real world deployment.

Topics:

- Stablecoins & Tokenized Finance: regulatory issuance, FX use in Japan, RWA integration.

- Ethereum Protocol & Roadmap: Fusaka upgrade, ZK-EVMs, PeerDAS, blob scaling, zkFOCIL, ePBS, cross-L2 interoperability.

- Crypto x AI: DeFAI, verifiable ML, AI governance & alignment through DAOs.

- Cryptography & Privacy: privacy-preserving identity & reputation, ZKPs, FHE, MPC, post-quantum crypto

- Consumer Apps: Wallet UX, mini-app ecosystem for mass adoption

- Decentralized Acceleration (d/acc): infrastructure sovereignty, DeSci, open-source innovation acceleration.

From Community to Community

In contrast to the present, the first two editions of EDCON were truly community-built conferences. It was designed with the very specific intent to facilitate communications and collaborations among Ethereum communities around the world.

For EDCON2025, the EDCON Team is conducting a series of collaborative operations with communities throughout the ecosystem, each creating unique stages and experiences for the festival: 

● The Student Session in conjunction with the Japan Student Web3 Association convenes student representatives around the globe in brainstorming sessions and other collaborative activities to sculpt the ways in which the next generation will engage with Ethereum.

● Two Workshops with BGIN on cybersecurity and privacy pool standardization.

● Open Source Workshop with Open Build.

● Workshop with Uniswap Foundation on Uniswap v4 Hooks.

 ● VC Connect Stage with Web3 Salon | AWAJ, a pitch competition for emerging Web3 startups.

● Super Demo with Akindo, spotlighting the next generation of Ethereum projects.

How to Register

Get all information on passes, speaker, sponsor, and community partner applications at www.edcon.io

ABOUT EDCON

An exhibition like EDCON has been created in a non-proprietary manner, allowing for the possible association deep within the Ethereum ecosystem and created by the community for the community. Since it stands at the intersection of public goods, policy, and protocol development, EDCON has had major editions held in Paris, Toronto, Sydney, San Francisco, Montenegro, and Tokyo. For the 2025 edition, EDCON will hence return to Japan amid enormous waves of regulatory and institutional momentum and further its aim to convene the builders, researchers, and policymakers of Ethereum to an open discourse. For updates, visit edcon.io.