Payword Group operates Kraken’s exchange business and announced its withdrawal from Japan at the end of January 2023. The firm unveiled plans to reduce its global workforce of about 1,100, a reduction of 30%. Payword Group cited the sudden decline in virtual currency trading triggered by the bankruptcy of FTX exchange and that the contagion spread to Japan.
Colin Wu, a Chinese journalist shared details of FTX’s contagion spreading to Japan. Wu tweeted, ”According to nikkei, Kraken announced that it will withdraw from Japan market at the end of January 2023. On December 1, Kraken announced that it would lay off 1,100 people worldwide, accounting for about 30% of its total workforce”
The US-based exchange is the latest player scaling back operations after a difficult year for cryptocurrencies. Per the announcement Kraken will cease operations in the East Asian country by deregistering from the Financial Services Agency on January 31.
The trading platform said that customers should withdraw their fiat and crypto holdings in a timely manner.
In 2018, Kraken ceased operations in Japan and cited the rising cost of doing business. Kraken was relaunched with a Tokyo office in 2020 before leaving the Asian island nation yet again. This is coming after the recent crash of Sam Batman Fried’s FTX exchange that shook the crypto industry.
