Gate.io pulls an unexpected move in Japan by exiting amid regulatory pressure.
Japanese cryptocurrency exchange users won’t be able to use Gate.io anymore. The Cayman Islands-based platform announced on July 22nd that it’s shutting down services for all Japanese customers.
This decision comes after facing “compliance requests” from Japan’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA).
Gate.io is committed to helping affected users move their crypto assets elsewhere. They’ll be launching a program to assist with this migration to platforms that are compliant with Japanese regulations. Additionally, the exchange will remove Japanese language information from their website. More details about the shutdown process are expected soon.
According to the notice, Gate.io will initiate a program to comply with Japanese laws and regulations, assisting customers in migrating to exchanges that meet Japanese regulatory standards.
The notice also stated that any Japanese language information would be removed from its website, but updates would be provided to support the account migration process.
The timeline for the service termination and transaction migration will follow the compliance requests from Japan’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency.
However, the notice did not specify the date when the exchange will completely shut down its operations in the country. According to CoinGecko, Gate.io offers 3,557 trading pairs and has a global 24-hour trading volume of $19.5 billion.
Japan is a global cryptocurrency trailblazer, having legalized crypto trading early on. However, the country imposes strict regulations on crypto assets through the Payment Services Act (PSA). Exchanges must register with the Financial Services Agency (FSA), adhere to stringent anti-money laundering (AML) standards, and conduct thorough customer identity verification. Despite these challenges, Japan has maintained its status as a crypto hub.
