US-Based Kraken to Stop Japan Operations Deregistering on Jan 31
Per Reuters
Kraken is stopping its operations in Japan next month and will deregister from the Financial Services Agency (JFSA) as of Jan 31. The crypto exchange assures users that they can still withdraw their assets.
Just last month, Kraken announced that it would cut its workforce by 30%. This meant that the crypto exchange would reduce its headcount by 1,100 as they deal with a tough crypto market.
The news comes during a bearish market for crypto and other exchanges showing shaky structure. In November, Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX filed for bankruptcy which led to a chain reaction of other crypto exchanges seeing an influx of withdrawals.
Now that Sam Bankman-Fried is facing trial and the mess of FTX is still being sorted out, Caroline Ellison, Alameda Research CEO, and Gary Wang, co-founder of FTX, pleaded guilty to the charges against them, per Reuters.
Aside from FTX, here are the other crypto firms that filed for bankruptcy, per Reuters:
- BlockFi - relied on a $400 million credit facility from FTX to survive against the competition. With FTX's collapse, the crypto exchange followed shortly.
- Three Arrows Capital - 3AC was affected by the downfall of TerraUSD and Luna. The downfall wiped out investor value of $42 billion, leading to the exchange's demise.
- Voyager Digital - This crypto exchange collapsed after 3AC had to default on a $650 million crypto loan.
- Celsius Network - This crypto exchange's fall happened shortly after Terra and Luna's fall.
To clarify, Kraken did not file for bankruptcy. It cited the global crypto market's conditions and local market conditions in Japan as their reason for deregistering on Jan 31 to give clients time to withdraw their fiat, crypto, and other assets.
The crypto exchange ensured that affected clients could still withdraw their assets.
Kraken's decision to deregister from the JFSA comes when the crypto market shrank by a whopping $1.4 trillion. Bitcoin has also lost around 60% of its value this year as other major events affected the crypto market.
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