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Crypto exchange Binance hints that it might not be expanding its operations to the Japanese market. This comes shortly after the cryptocurrency platform announced the closure of its South Korean operations due to low usage.
It appears that Binance might no longer be opening its Japenese branch anytime soon. This was revealed by the crypto exchange’s CEO and founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao who recently described the possibility of launching its platform in Tokyo as “unlikely,” according to Cryptonews.com.
CZ made his comments during a Q&A session with Coin Post, a Japanese outlet. While the Binance CEO stopped short of completely ruling out the possibility of launching a Japanese branch, he pointed out the difficulty of such a move saying that East Asian markets, such as Japan and South Korea, are hard to crack.
Binance previously announced its planned re-entry into the Japanese market as it entered into a strategic partnership discussion with Taotao operator Z Holdings Corporation. However, both firms failed to reach an agreement and decided to end their negotiations that lasted for 10 months.
“As announced on January 17, 2020, we have been discussing the issue of strategic partnership in the Japanese market, but we have decided to end negotiations,” Taotao announced.
Binance also announced last week that it will be closing its operations in South Korea. The crypto exchange explained that the reason for the closure is due to low trading volume and usage even after the platform operated for eight months in the country, according to Coindesk.
The crypto exchange said that the low trading volumes resulted in liquidity issues making it more challenging to operate in South Korea. Previously, the South Korean branch relied on its parent firm for liquidity requirements but that option will no longer be available once the law prohibiting order book sharing takes into effect in March 2021.
Binance’s South Korean platform is no longer accepting deposits and new registrations since December 24, 2020. Users will still be able to withdraw crypto funds and fiat currencies until January 29, 2021.
