Pertaining to Kraken Japan users.

Some may already be aware but Kraken will stop operating in Japan on January 31st. Other deadlines such as deposits are on January 9th which is very soon. I didn’t receive any email about this (to my knowledge) and found out from an article posted on here. So that as many people as possible don’t get screwed by this, I’m sharing the information Kraken has posted on their website in the hope that you can make any trades and withdrawals before it gets converted to JPY and sent to government custody. And probably not use Kraken again, since this is the second time they’ve done this.

• Posted from Kraken Japan’s website -

We would like to inform you that after due consideration, Kraken has decided to cease its operations in Japan and deregister from the Financial Services Agency (JFSA) as of January 31, 2023. The decision is part of Kraken’s efforts to prioritize resources and investments in those areas that align with our strategy and will best position Kraken for long term success.

Current market conditions in Japan in combination with a weak crypto market globally mean the resources needed to further grow our business in Japan aren’t justified at this time. As a result, Kraken will no longer service clients in Japan through Payward Asia.

We value the trust our clients put in us and we will do what we can to minimize the impact of our decision for you. That’s why we are committed to ensure a seamless transition and we hope the information in this article will help you decide what is the best option for you. Kraken is fully funded to ensure all affected clients can withdraw their assets in a timely manner.

What this means for you

In accordance with guidance from the JFSA, all affected Kraken clients have until January 31, 2023 to withdraw their fiat and crypto holdings from Kraken’s platform. You may choose to either withdraw your crypto holdings to an external wallet or liquidate your portfolio and withdraw your JPY to a domestic bank account.

On January 9, deposit functionality will be removed from your account. Trading functionality will remain so that you can convert your balance to the asset of your choice. In addition, withdrawal limits have been removed for the month of January to ensure you can remove your assets from Kraken. Funds currently staked with Kraken can be unstaked and transferred or converted as desired. Kraken will soon be distributing additional info regarding the ETH unstaking process shortly. Any remaining non-JPY fiat (e.g. USD, EUR) and crypto holdings held on Kraken after February 1 00:00 JST will be automatically converted to JPY and Kraken’s Instant Buy fee will be applied.

After the deregistration has been completed on January 31, Kraken will send any remaining JPY to a Guaranty Account at the Legal Affairs Bureau in accordance with legal requirements. If you do not take any action before January 31, you will have to coordinate with the Legal Affairs Bureau on how to retrieve your JPY balance. Once funds have been transferred to the Legal Affairs Bureau, Kraken will no longer be able to support client withdrawals.

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