As the crypto bear market continues to hit hard on firms in the sector, Kraken has pulled out from the Japanese market. In a blog post today, the popular crypto exchange said it’s stopping operations in the Asian country. Kranken, in the blog post, cited that running operations in Japan is having a negative toll on its resources. The crypto exchange illuminated how it has been hard to run cryptocurrency services in Japan due the crypto bear market.
Kraken indicated that a dip in trading volume, minimal increase in new users and daily visits inflicted it with huge losses. Thus, making it expensive to provide crypto services to users in Japan. The crypto exchange said it is necessary to cut expenses in other to stay in business despite the crypto bear market.
Worth noting that this is the second time Kraken will quit operations in Japan. The Japan extension of Kraken is controlled by Payward Asia Inc. one of its subsidiaries in Asia. The subsidiary began operation in Japan in 2014 before pulling out four years later. Then, the subsidiary said it pulled out to focus on growth in other geographical areas. Kraken made a comeback in October 2020 through the same subsidiary.
By January 31, 2023, the cryptocurrency exchange will cancel its registration with the Financial Services Agency of Japan. Therefore, Kraken said it’ll allow users from the country to reclaim their assets on its platform until at least January 31. Kraken said it’ll remove withdrawal limits to aid users to move their funds swiftly.
According to the blog post, users can move their assets through two channels. It stated that they can move their assets to an external wallet or transfer it to a local bank account after converting their assets to Japanese yen on the platform. The cryptocurrency exchange said it’ll halt deposits by January 9. Above all, Kraken divulged that pulling out from Japan won’t affect its overall business.
Kraken’s persistent effort in cutting cost
Before pulling out from Japan, Kraken took some drastic decisions to cut costs. As the crypto winter hit hard, on November 30, Kraken reduced its staff by 30% globally. The decision cost about 1,100 people their jobs in the cryptocurrency exchange.
The CEO and Co-founder of Kraken, Jesse Powell described the decision as a move that took the cryptocurrency exchange back it where it was 12 months ago. Also, Powell exlained how Kraken increased its staff by threefolds in late 2021. The CEO said then, it became important for the crypto exchange to increase its workforce to meet the growing demands of the market. Now, the general downturn in the price of crypto tokens demanded that Kraken reduce its staff.
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