Kraken Shuts Down in Japan

Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange based in San Francisco, is closing its doors to investors in Japan.

Operating in Japan since 2014, Payward Japan Co., Ltd., under the service name Kraken, is going to abolish its service for Japanese residents. The estimated cut-off for final withdrawals is by the end of June. The company also added that Japanese investors living overseas can still have access to trading activities in the local market.

For the victims of the infamous Mt Gox hack that happened in 2014, Kraken announced that they will be able to keep their account for fund withdrawals.

The Kraken team pinned the reason of their closure to “the costs and resources required to maintain service.” Take note that the company is also not yet registered with the Financial Services Agency (FSA) in Japan.

• Read more: Japan to Increase Crypto Inspections

Kraken’s closure is also in time with FSA’s effort to closely inspect cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan after $530 million worth of NEM coins were stolen from cryptocurrency exchange site, Coincheck.

• Read more: Coincheck Press Conference: We Use Hot Wallets to Store Altcoins

Another cryptocurrency exchange is under the watchful eye of Japan’s Financial watchdogs. Binance, one of the world’s biggest crypto exchange site in terms of trading volume recently received a warning letter from the FSA about its operations in the country.

• Read more: Binance Gets a Formal Warning from Japan’s Regulator

Source: Kraken, Coindesk

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