Kraken to Leave Japan

One of the oldest cryptocurrency exchange leaves Japan due to increased cost of doing business in the country

17 April 2018 134

One of the oldest crypto exchanges Kraken announced the termination of work in Japan. Main reason for this decision is called the increased cost of doing business in this country, reports Bloomberg.

The exchange said that it plans to stop all services for residents of Japan until the end of June, but in the future, if the situation changes, it can again return to this market.

Suspending services for Japan residents will allow us to better focus on our resources to improve in other geographical areas. This is a localized suspension of service that only affects residents of Japan and does not impact services for Japanese citizens or businesses domiciled outside of Japan.

Kraken

Kraken started to operate in Japan since October, 2014. According to Coinmarketcap, Kraken takes the 10th place in the list of exchanges in terms of trading volume.

In March, the exchange closed a number of bank accounts, and also stopped accepting deposits in US dollars, euros and British pounds through the interbank transfer system SWIFT.

Kraken Exchanges Blockchain

Kraken to Refuse to Answer NY's Attorney General's Inquiry

Kraken was one of 13 exchanges that received a letter from New York Attorney General as part of his new inquiry into cryptocurrency exchanges

19 April 2018 107

Kraken does not intend to respond to the request of the Attorney General of the State of New York. This is reported by Coindesk.

Kraken was among the 13 exchanges that received a letter from Eric Schneiderman. Although most of the trading platforms supported the initiative of the attorney, Kraken decided to take a different position from them.

Kraken's BitLicense-prompted exit from New York in 2015 pays another dividend today. I realized that we made the wise decision to get the hell out of New York three years ago and that we can dodge this bullet.

Jesse Powell

CEO, Kraken

Kraken left New York in 2015 due to the fact that this state adopted a set of rules for crypto-currency companies called BitLicense. The Exchange called the ruling "a creature so foul, so cruel that not even Kraken possesses the courage or strength to face its nasty, big, pointy teeth."

Powell added that Kraken is ready to cooperate with the government, but condemns Schneiderman's approach.

Why don't you try extracting this information from those businesses actually operating in your state?

Jesse Powell

CEO, Kraken

Attorney's spokeperson provided a comment:

Legitimate entities generally like to demonstrate to their investors that their money will be protected. This is basic information that credible platforms should all have on hand.

Attorney General's office spokeperson

The set of BitLicense rules turned out to be ineffective, as most crypto-currency companies found it inadequate and simply refused to continue operatng in New York. In February, lawmakers raised the issue of revising or even completely abolishing BitLicense.