After Kraken, Coinbase shuts shop in Japan due to market conditions: Know more

A week after laying off 950 employees, US-based crypto exchange platform Coinbase announced on Wednesday, January 18, that it is halting its operations in Japan due to market conditions. The crypto exchange says it will complete a review of its business in the country. 

In a blog, the company states that it has separated its customers’ Japanese Yen and crypto assets in custody in compliance with regulations.

Customers have until February 16, 2023, to withdraw their fiat and crypto holdings from Coinbase to any other Virtual Assets Service Provider, Coinbase Wallet, or self-hosted wallet. If not, customers can choose to liquidate their portfolio and withdraw their JPY to a domestic bank account. 

The company will remove the fiat deposit functionality on January 20, 2023.

The remaining crypto holdings held on the exchange on or after February 17 will be converted to JPY and will be sent to a Guaranty Account at the Legal Affairs Bureau per legal requirements. 

“If customers do not take action before February 16th, they will have to coordinate with the Legal Affairs Bureau to retrieve their JPY balance,” mentions the company in its blog. 

Last year, Coinbase’s rival cryptocurrency exchange Kraken also shut down its operation in Japan, citing “current market conditions” and a “weak crypto market globally.”

The announcement comes a week after Coinbase announced laying off its workforce by about 25 per cent, or 950 employees, to reduce operating expenses as the crypto market is trending downwards.

Coinbase: What you need to know

Founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam, Coinbase allows users to create their wallets and start buying or selling bitcoins by connecting with their bank accounts. It also provides a series of merchant payment processing systems and tools that support many highly-traffic websites on the internet.

Approximately 98 million verified users, 13,000 institutions, and 230,000 ecosystem partners in over 100 countries use Coinbase to invest, spend, save, earn, and use crypto.