The US-based crypto trading platform Kraken has made a shocking announcement. The team said they would cease to operate on the Japanese market in the near future.

Being ranked on the 10th place in the global top after trading volume per past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap, the crypto exchange Kraken is one of the influential crypto companies in the US and not only.

According to Bloomberg, Kraken stated that “Suspending services for Japan residents will allow us to better focus on our resources to improve in other geographical areas. This is a localized suspension of service that only affects residents of Japan and does not impact services for Japanese citizens or businesses domiciled outside of Japan.”

The decision was influenced by the changes in the Japanese regulation

The final decision was made following the numerous changes in the Japanese regulation regarding the deployment of crypto operations on the territory of the country. Companies based in Japan are required to respect a set of rules that, for some businesses, seem to restrict their activities and market.

Regardless of the strict regulations across the country, Japan is an important player in the crypto industry. Recently, Yahoo Japan has announced its acquisition of a crypto trading platform in order to enter into this digital market.

According to a report realized by R25, around 14% of Japanese males own crypto assets.

The law regarding the crypto-trading organizations in Japan has worsened, especially after the giant Coincheck was attacked, losing $ 560 million. Following this incident, the Japanese authorities have oppressed the investigations on crypto exchanges in order to prevent future possible unpleasant situations.

All the crypto exchanges based in Japan are required to be licensed if they want to operate in the Japanese market. Even if the US-based Kraken received approval as unlicensed to carry out its activities on the Japanese market for a certain period of time, it has never enjoyed an enormous national audience.

Kraken plans to close its door in Japan by the end of June 2018.