Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange based in the United States, has announced that it will stop operating in Japan and deregister from the Financial Services Agency on January 31, 2023. The company cited the current “weak crypto market” as one of the reasons for this decision, which was announced in the early hours of today via a blog post.
According to the blog post:
“Current market conditions in Japan in combination with a weak crypto market globally mean the resources needed to further grow our business in Japan aren’t justified at this time. As a result, Kraken will no longer service clients in Japan through Payward Asia.”
The current crypto bear season has crippled many crypto firms within months. Kraken seeks to prioritize the company’s investment for long-term success and sustainability.
This is not the first time that Kraken has had to close its doors to the Japanese crypto community. The exchange began offering digital asset exchange services to consumers and institutions in 2014 but terminated operations in 2018 to focus on other regions.
Kraken users have till January 31, 2023, to withdraw their fiat and crypto holdings on the platform. The deposit feature will be disabled on January 9, 2023, but trading will still be available. Users with staked tokens such as ETH will also be able to get their assets, and the company will circulate more information regarding that.
Japanese yen (JPY) and other fiat or crypto holdings on the exchange after January 31 will be converted to JPY and sent to the Guaranty account at the Legal Affairs Bureau.
In November, Kraken announced its decision to lay off 30% of its staff due to macroeconomic factors and crypto market conditions.
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