Although the price of Bitcoin has rebounded after the bankruptcy of FTX, the aftershocks from this event still had a negative impact on the entire cryptocurrency industry, causing Coinbase – one of the world’s leading exchanges – to announce its termination. ceased operations in Japan.
On January 18, Coinbase exchange announced that it was closing in Japan. All Coinbase Japan customers will have until February 16 to withdraw funds from the platform. By February 17, all customer crypto assets will be converted to Japanese yen by Coinbase. Fiat deposits will not be available from January 20.
Cointelegraph reported that, after closing in Japan, Coinbase will conduct a comprehensive review of its business in the country in light of market fluctuations.
The company also notes that customers can transfer assets to other wealth management services, self-custodial wallets, or use Coinbase Wallet. Customers can also liquidate their portfolio and withdraw money to their local bank accounts.
Coinbase is committed to smooth service termination, ensuring that Japanese customers can conveniently withdraw funds from the platform.
During the 2018 bear market, Coinbase planned to expand its operations in Japan. But up to now, Coinbase has not been able to achieve its goal, but has followed in the footsteps of Kraken – another major exchange that has just announced its shutdown in Japan at the end of 2022. Kraken said it faces many challenges. challenges in the land of the rising sun, partly because the cryptocurrency market here is not thriving as expected.
During this time, Kraken and Coinbase both made staff cuts. Kraken laid off about 30% of its employees when news of the FTX collapse hit in November 2022. Coinbase also cut 18 percent of staff last year and continued to lay off 20 percent of employees in January of this year.
As of January 18, Coinbase’s daily trading volume reached $1.98 billion, down about 1.3% since the end of November 2022, according to data from CoinGecko. Coinbase monthly visits are down more than 6% year-over-year.