Coinbase is the latest company to cease operations in Japan, citing adverse market conditions.
The US-based corporation has laid off several employees in the last seven months, with the most recent layoff occurring in January 2023.
Coinbase revealed in a blog post on Wednesday (January 18) that users in Japan have until February 16 to withdraw their fiat and crypto assets from the platform and that fiat deposits would be disabled on January 20.
“Due to market conditions, our company has made the difficult decision to cease operations in Japan and conduct a thorough review of our operations in the country.” However, we are dedicated to making this transition as simple as possible for our valued customers.
Customers who do not remove their cryptocurrency by February 17 will have their holdings converted to Japanese yen (JPY). Furthermore, any remaining JPY on Coinbase will be transferred to the Legal Affairs Bureau’s Guaranty Account.
Coinbase further stated that users who do not act before the withdrawal deadline would be contacted by the Legal Affairs Bureau in order to retrieve their JPY.
The latest development comes just after the corporation announced plans to reduce its operations in Japan. Nana Murugesan, Coinbase’s vice president of business development and international, told Bloomberg, “We’ve opted to wind down the majority of our operations in Japan, which resulted in the elimination of most of the roles in our Japan entity.”
Coinbase has likewise reduced its workforce in recent months in response to the bear market. In June 2022, the company began laying off employees, reducing 18% of its work. The crypto exchange laid off 950 workers in January.
Meanwhile, Coinbase is the most recent cryptocurrency exchange to leave Japan, with Kraken following suit in December 2022.
