1 year ago
47 Kraken has now decided to close all its operations in Japan and deregister from the Financial Services Agency (JFSA), blaming a weak market.
Kraken announced in a blog post on December 28, 2022, that it has decided to close all its businesses in Japan and deregister from the Financial Services Agency (JFSA) by January 31, 2023.
The crypto firm said that its decision was part of its efforts to focus on regions that align with its strategy and that would ideally position the crypto exchange on a path of long-term success.
The blog post explained that the current market conditions in Japan, integrated with a weak global crypto market, made it challenging for Kraken to justify more investment in Japan currently, and in that context, Kraken would no longer manage to offer services to clients in Japan via Payward Asia. The blog post reads:
“We value the trust our clients put in us and we will do what we can to minimize the impact of our decision on you. That’s why we are committed to ensuring a seamless transition and we hope the information in this email will help you decide what the best option for you is. Kraken is fully funded to ensure all affected clients can withdraw their assets on time.”
While explaining what this exactly means for customers, the blog post laid out that clients have until January 31, 2023, to withdraw all their fiat and crypto holdings from that platform.
It was mentioned that deposit functionality would be removed from accounts on January 9, but trading functionality would remain so that the balances could be changed to the asset of the client’s choice ready for withdrawals.
It appears that Kraken, just like many other crypto exchanges, is doing everything possible to survive the long persistent crypto winter. At the end of November, the crypto exchange cut its workforce by almost 1100, effectively reducing it by nearly 30%.
The staff downsize was the last act for the then CEO Jesse Powell, who stepped aside, letting Dave Ripley take over the role. Kraken exchange stated that these measures were crucial to enable it to sustain its business over the longer term.
