Crypto Exchange Gate.io Aiming to ‘Enter Japanese Crypto Market’ – CEO

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper is a British journalist and features writer who has worked at Cryptonews.com since 2018. He has written for media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, and Chosun Ilbo. He has also worked…

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Last updated:

August 28, 2024 23:00 EDT

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The crypto exchange operator Gate.io says that it wants to enter the Japanese market, with its CEO planning a “full-scale advance.”

Per the Japanese media outlet CoinPost, the Gate.io CEO and founder Lin Han made the comments at the WebX conference on August 28.

Japanese Crypto Exchange Expansion for Gate.io?

The outlet quoted Han as “revealing” that the company is “making full-scale advances into the Japanese market.”

The CEO said that the firm was “going through the license application procedures” as it readies a launch.

East Asian nations like Japan and South Korea have famously tight regulatory processes that have previously thwarted the likes of Binance from launching exchanges.

Coinbase appeared to have bucked the trend when it launched Japanese operations. However, the American firm shuttered its Tokyo-based exchange in January 2023.

Kraken, another global exchange that tried to establish a Japanese presence, also left the market in 2022.

“There are few countries with clearer regulations and stronger user protection measures than Japan.”

Lin Han, Gate.io CEO and Founder

One of the few crypto exchanges that did manage to gain a foothold in Japan was FTX.

However, this venture ended in acrimony, with FTX Japan customers left unable to withdraw their funds in the wake of the FTX collapse.

Han appeared keen to allay fears of a repeat of this kind of scenario. He stated that security is the exchange’s “top priority.”

And he claimed that Gate.io would try to “prevent a recurrence of incidents” like those that “occurred” at FTX Japan.

We Will Abide by Japanese Regulations: Han

The CEO said that a new Gate.io-run exchange “would strictly abide by” Japanese regulations.

He also said that the new platform would ensure that customer and exchange assets were “kept seperate,” with customer coins held in offline “cold” wallets.

Han explained that his firm would “adopt a strategy of differentiating itself” by “offering a variety of tokens while ensuring a high level of security.”

The Gate.io boss said his platform was “committed to complying with Japanese regulations.”

The announcement comes shortly after the exchange announced it would “end its services” for Japanese users.

The Financial Services Agency has previously warned global exchange operators not to target Japanese customers without an operating permit.