Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA), the country’s financial market regulator, has published a warning letter for several foreign crypto exchanges.
The agency has claimed that the exchanges operate in the country without proper registration.
- The crypto exchanges in the letter include Binance, Bybit, Bitget, BitForex, and MEXC Global.
- JFSA
accused these exchanges of violating the country’s fund settlement laws
by conducting crypto asset exchange business without registration.
- In
2020, the agency enacted new regulations mandating crypto exchanges to
register with it and obtain a license to operate in Japan.
- BitForex and Bybit were previously served formal warnings by the JFSA for the same offense in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
- Binance,
the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, similarly faced a
warning by the JFSA in 2021 for operating in Japan without registration.
- Last
year, Binance acquired Sakura Exchange BitCoin (SEBC), the
JFSA-registered crypto exchange service provider, to prevent any further
legal action.
- Earlier in 2023, crypto exchange Coinbase halted its operations in Japan, citing a severe market downturn and rising volatility.