Svmuu News: Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) plans to strengthen oversight of unregistered cryptocurrency businesses and intends to transfer relevant regulations from the Payment Services Act to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act to enhance investor protection. Under the proposed plan, criminal penalties for unregistered operators selling crypto assets will be increased from the current “up to three years’ imprisonment or a fine of up to 3 million yen” to “up to ten years’ imprisonment or a fine of up to 10 million yen (or both).” At the same time, the Japan Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission will be granted stronger enforcement powers, including criminal investigative measures such as on-site inspections and the seizure of evidence. In addition, the regulator plans to change the legal designation of registered entities from “crypto-asset exchange operators” to “crypto-asset trading operators.” One of the reasons for the regulatory tightening is the continuing rise in the number of disputes related to highly speculative meme tokens. (Nikkei)