Coinbase announced on Wednesday that it had suspended its operations in Japan. Crypto lenders and exchanges struggling to emerge victorious from the ongoing crypto slump face drastic decisions to ensure their businesses remain operational in the ongoing crypto winter. Citing the ongoing challenges in the crypto market, Coinbase has given its users in Japan until February 16 to withdraw funds from their respective accounts. Not long ago, popular crypto exchange Kraken, which was facing similar market pressures, also exited the Japanese market.
“Due to market conditions, our company has made the difficult decision to suspend operations in Japan and conduct a full review of our business in the country,” the multinational crypto exchange said in its official statement.
coin base Japan will no longer allow fiat deposits from January 20th.
After February 16, all remaining holdings held by Coinbase Japan will be converted to Japanese yen (JPY) and transferred to a guarantee account with the Legal Affairs Bureau in accordance with the country’s laws.
“Customers can choose to withdraw their crypto holdings to another Virtual Assets Service Provider, Coinbase wallet or other self-hosted wallet of their choice. Alternatively, customers can liquidate their portfolio and withdraw their JPY to a domestic bank account. If customers do nothing before February 16, they will need to coordinate with the Legal Affairs Bureau to retrieve their JPY balance,” the company said added to his note.
Japan has recently started to turn to a pro-crypto approach to keep up with global fintech trends.
Despite its efforts to expand in the country, Coinbase is now the second crypto major after it octopus leave the Asian market.
According to CoinTelegraph reportcompanies in Japan saw a weaker crypto market compared to other nations.
Meanwhile, Japan’s financial regulators pushed that the crypto sector should be controlled just like traditional banks.
According to Japanese authorities, crypto technology is not responsible for endangering the financial stability of crypto investors. Rather, it is the lack of rules for the sector that has failed to make the sector safe.
In November last year, the Bank of Japan announced that it would work with megabanks to help them fine-tune CBDCcalled digital yen.
Japan could see wider adoption of its digital yen by 2026. Before that, the BoJ wants to verify whether the CBDC is working efficiently in a disaster situation or without an internet connection.
