Kraken Relaunches Crypto Trading in Japan After Two-Year Break

U.S.-based crypto exchange Kraken is once more letting Japanese residents fund their accounts and trade crypto on its platform.

• Announced Thursday in a company blog post, Kraken said the move comes as the start of a larger push to expand its services within the Asia-Pacific region.
• The exchange first said it was reopening for Japan's market in September.
• The company had shuttered its local services after the Coincheck exchange's $530 million hack in 2018 spooked local regulators into clamping down on cryptocurrency trading activity.
• As part of the conditions for re-entry, Kraken completed registration as a crypto asset exchange service provider under Japan's Payment Services Act on Sept. 8.
• “In today’s challenging economic environment, more people are turning to cryptocurrencies to hedge against volatile markets," said David Ripley, Kraken's chief operating officer, in comments on the relaunch.
• For users completing Kraken's onboarding process, spot trading is now open for bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), XRP (XRP), bitcoin cash (BCH) and litecoin LTC$62.49.
• Crypto deposits in these cryptocurrencies have been restored, as have domestic Japanese yen deposits and withdrawals via SBI Sumishin Net Bank.
• Users can trade via crypto-to-crypto or yen-to-crypto trading pairs.

See also: Kraken Becomes First Crypto Exchange to Charter a US Bank