Exchange hopes to break into a sector dominated by domestic firms
The CEO of cryptocurrency exchange operator Gate.io has announced plans to make a “full-scale advance” into the Japanese market.
Per the Japanese media outlet CoinPost, the Gate.io CEO and founder Lin Han made the comments at the WebX conference on August 28.
Japanese Crypto Exchange Expansion for Gate.io?
According to Han, who was cited by the outlet, the business is “making full-scale advances into the Japanese market.”
As the company prepared for launch, the CEO stated that it was “going through the license application procedures.”
Because of their renownedly strict regulations, East Asian countries like South Korea and Japan have previously prevented companies like Binance from opening exchanges.
When Coinbase started operating in Japan, it seemed to be going against the grain. Nevertheless, the American company closed its exchange in Tokyo in January 2023.
Another international exchange that made an effort to become present in Japan, Kraken, also departed the market in 2022.
“There are few countries with clearer regulations and stronger user protection measures than Japan.”Lin Han, Gate.io CEO and Founder
Thank you @aba_summit for the invitation to this year's incredible summit. A real pleasure to participate with my two cents. Some thoughts to summarize my contribution: The amazing progress of blockchain industry is turning it into a more mature and stable space, ideal for more… pic.twitter.com/KAr1PzHpGn
— Dr. Han (@han_gate) August 7, 2024
FTX was one of the few cryptocurrency exchanges that succeeded in taking off in Japan.
But after FTX collapsed, customers of FTX Japan were left without the ability to withdraw their money, and this endeavor ended bitterly.
Han seemed eager to dispel any worries that this kind of thing might happen again. He stated that security is the exchange’s “top priority.”
And he claimed that Gate.io would try to “prevent a recurrence of incidents” like those that “occurred” at FTX Japan.
Heat stroke risk won't stop Japan's ageing farmers as temperatures soar https://t.co/TQMWUcbUwh pic.twitter.com/AyZ0nDMIKx
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 28, 2024
We Will Abide by Japanese Regulations: Han
A new exchange run by Gate.io, according to the CEO, “would strictly abide by” Japanese laws.
The new platform, he added, would make sure that assets belonging to customers and exchanges were “kept seperate,” with customer coins being kept in offline “cold” wallets.
Han clarified that by “offering a variety of tokens while ensuring a high level of security,” his company would “adopt a strategy of differentiating itself.”
“Committed to complying with Japanese regulations,” stated the CEO of Gate.io, regarding his platform.
Shortly after the exchange declared it would “end its services” for Japanese users, the announcement was made.
Global exchange operators have previously received warnings from the Financial Services Agency not to pursue Japanese customers in the absence of an operating permit.