The world’s largest Bitcoin exchange, Binance, will launch a Japanese subsidiary in June 2023. This is according to CoinDesk.
Last year the company acquired the Sakura Exchange BitCoin (SEBC) trading platform, registered with the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA).
According to the statement, operations on SEBC will cease on 31 May. A new entity bearing the temporary name Binance Japan will take its place. The platform currently supports 11 trading pairs.
In 2018 the FSA issued Binance a warning about the need to obtain a license to continue operating in the country. At that time the regulator tightened the risk assessment process for launching new cryptocurrency exchanges.
Two years later Binance decided to restrict access to the platform for users in Japan. It later emerged that the exchange and the local crypto-trading firm TaoTao did not reach an agreement on forming a joint venture.
In the summer of 2021 the FSA sent Binance another warning for operating without registration.
In September 2022 the crypto exchange filed a renewed application for a license in the country. According to Bloomberg, the company’s interest in the jurisdiction was driven by a more lenient supervisory approach to the industry and “significant potential” for growth in the number of users.
In April 2023, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission canceled the license of Binance’s local subsidiary for financial services.
In the same month Reuters reported that the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange began preparing to expand its business into the Argentine market.