Kraken to withdraw from Japan, cites bad market conditions

The U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, founded in 2011, has said it will withdraw from Japan. The platform cites bad market conditions following the collapse of FTX.

According to a Wednesday report by Nikkei, Payward Asia Co., Ltd. — which operates Kraken’s procedures in Japan — will cease the crypto exchange in the country at the end of January 2023.

The report comes as Kraken announced the reduction of its global workforce by 30%. On December 1, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell announced laying off 1,100 of the firm’s employees “to adapt to current market conditions.”

Per Nikkei, this is not the first time Payward has left Japan. Kraken’s sister firm operated in the country from 2014 to 2018 and decided to relaunch in October 2020.

“We sincerely apologize for such a report. As a result of considering the current situation surrounding the Japanese market and the sluggish global cryptocurrency market, we concluded that it would be difficult for Kraken to invest the necessary resources to further grow its business in Japan,” Kraken announced

Last week, the 11-year-old crypto exchange announced the public beta launch of its non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, called Kraken NFT. In addition, the platform also revealed a set of professional trading tools with a “Pro” version called Kraken Pro.

As Japan is getting ready to lift the ban on foreign stablecoins in 2023, Kraken will not allow users to deposit assets starting from January 9.