Binance to Reenter Japan in August 2 Years After Regulator’s Warning

Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, plans to introduce its full service in Japan in August, CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said Tuesday.

The exchange is returning to the country two years after receiving a warning from the Financial Services Agency (FSA) that it was operating without permission. Naming the month is the most specific timeframe noted so far by the platform, which earlier had given a guideline of after June.

The reentry was made possible by Binance’s acquisition of the regulated crypto exchange Sakura Exchange BitCoin (SEBC) in November 2022. Existing services on SEBC would be terminated on May 31 and a new service under the provisional name “Binance Japan” will launched, it said at the time.

“It’s fantastic to see Japan being a leader in the Web3 regulatory environment … and I think it’s an example for the rest of the world to follow,” Zhao said. “And to that end, Binance is extremely happy to be able to participate in the Japanese market again, from the acquisition of the SEBC platform last November, and we were going to launch the full service in August.” He was speaking at the Web3 conference “WebX” held at the Tokyo International Forum through a video message, later tweeted by Binance.

Rival crypto exchanges Coinbase (COIN) and Kraken withdrew from Japan in recent months, citing “market conditions” as the reason.