Japanese Senate Passes Amendment to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, Officially Classifying Crypto Assets as Financial Products

Odaily Planet Daily News: The Japanese Senate plenary session passed and enacted the "Partial Amendment to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and the Payment Services Act" on July 15, redefining crypto assets from a means of payment to financial products. Key amendments include: renaming crypto asset exchange operators to crypto asset trading operators, increasing the maximum prison sentence for unregistered sales from under 3 years to under 10 years, and raising the maximum fine from under 3 million yen to under 10 million yen; introducing for the first time regulations on insider trading of crypto assets, prohibiting transactions using undisclosed material information; requiring specific crypto asset issuers to conduct annual periodic information disclosures. Regarding taxation, the system will shift from a comprehensive taxation of up to 55% to a declared separate taxation system at a rate of approximately 20%, allowing loss carryforwards for three years, with implementation expected from January 1, 2028.