Coinbase stops Japan operations amid trading slump

Coinbase stops Japan operations amid trading slump

Customers will have until February 16 to withdraw their fiat and crypto holdings.

Coinbase announced earlier this month that it would lay off about 20% of its employees.
TOKYO:
Coinbase Global is halting its operations in Japan due to volatile market conditions, the cryptocurrency exchange said on Wednesday, days after it announced job cuts amid waning demand for digital assets.

The move comes just weeks after rival exchange Kraken said it was ceasing its business in the country.

“Japan is unlikely a material contributor to Coinbase revenue,” Oppenheimer analyst Owen Lau said, adding the company had been examining the market for some time but just got the license from the Japanese regulator a year and a half ago.

The cryptocurrency market is going through turbulent times as the plunging value of digital assets amid rising interest rates and the collapse of some of its biggest players, including FTX, has shaken the faith of investors in what was seen as the next big thing in the world of finance.

Coinbase, Crypto.com and Huobi have all announced plans to lay off about 20% of their respective staff, while a source told Reuters earlier this month that Genesis, too, had cut jobs, equating to 30% of its workforce.

All Coinbase Japan customers will have until Feb 16 to withdraw their fiat and crypto holdings, the company said in a blog post.

The company’s shares shed about 86% of their value last year, amid a brutal sell-off in cryptocurrencies ranging from bitcoin to dogecoin that wiped out more than a trillion dollars from the sector.

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