In an effort to avoid legal issues with Japan’s financial regulators, the Hong Kong-based HitBTC crypto exchange has announced that it will suspend its services on the territory of Japan. The exchanges customers with an IP address belonging to Japan will have to prove that they are not country’s residents in order to gain access in the future.
World’s eighth largest crypto exchange leaves Japan
Japan has grown a reputation for being one of the friendliest countries towards cryptocurrencies in the last few years, becoming one of the few countries in the world to have legitimized Bitcoin as a method of payment. However, in order to make the crypto market safe and stable, the country had to implement strict regulations, because of which some foreign exchanges had to abandon Japan’s market, for the time being, HitBTC included.
HitBTC is the eight largest crypto exchange in the world, according to CoinMarketCap. It gained popularity during the last few years and has started offering many crypto pairs. It expanded its operations to various countries around the world, with Japan being one of them.
However, some of Japan’s recent crypto-regulation dictates that exchanges require special authorization from the country’s regulators in order to continue to function. This includes a specific and difficult-to-obtain license for foreign exchange. With an issue like that standing in the way, HitBTC’s only real solution is to withdraw its presence from Japan, at least for a while.
To combat the issues following this decision, the exchange’s customers will have to provide residency details while accessing the exchange in the future. If they are a resident of Japan, they won’t be able to use the exchange. However, they will still gain access if they are visiting the country while being a resident of another country. As for Japan’s residents, they will simply have to find some other trading platform that has obtained a proper license and is approved by the country’s regulators.
Luckily, Japan has entered the crypto world with a great deal of enthusiasm and there is a number of other exchanges that can be used by its residents. Domestic exchanges usually have no larger issues when it comes to obtaining the necessary licenses, and the country currently allows more than a dozen companies. More exchanges are joining the ranks, and their numbers will likely increase in time.
Foreign exchanges have faced more issues while trying to obtain the necessary documentation, however. This especially includes those that offer Monero as part of their trading services, since this crypto has become a debatable topic in Japan.
