In Japan, Coinbase Global Inc. will no longer conduct business. Kraken, another significant digital asset exchange, announced its departure from the country less than a month prior. Even though Bitcoin’s price has returned to where it was before the FTX collapse, the industry is still affected by financial instability. This is why the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange had to shut down in Japan.
Due to market conditions, Coinbase announced on January 18 that it would stop doing business in Japan and do a complete analysis of its operations in the country. Customers of Coinbase Japan will have until February 16 to take their cash and cryptocurrency assets off the exchange. The leftover crypto assets that users of Coinbase Japan had after February 17 will be changed to Japanese yen.
Coinbase leaves Japan in the wake of Kraken, another international cryptocurrency exchange that opted to stop doing business there in late 2022. The exchange said it had the same problems in Japan because of a “poor crypto market.”
Both Coinbase and Kraken have drastically reduced their staff. In November 2022, when the FTX exchange failed, Kraken let go of 30% of its employees. Last year, Coinbase cut its staff by 18%. It said it would cut its staff by another 20% in January.
