Japan's FSA seeks to toughen penalties for unregistered crypto sales

Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) is pushing to strengthen penalties and oversight for sellers of unregistered cryptocurrencies, Nikkei reported. The agency plans to enhance investor protection by transferring the regulatory framework for virtual assets from the current Payment Services Act to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. Additionally, the FSA is considering significantly increasing criminal penalties, with discussions underway to raise the maximum sentence from the current three years in prison or a 3 million yen fine to 10 years in prison or a 10 million yen fine.