Kraken Terminates Business with Payward Asia Due to Crypto Winter

• Kraken crypto exchange is shutting down its Japanese business arm.
• The firm acknowledged that the crypto winter impacted its operation.
• Last month, Kraken sent 30% of its customers packing.

Kraken, the third-rated global crypto exchange, is closing down its business in Japan following the instabilities that rocked the crypto market this year.

Kraken announced in a blog post on Wednesday that it has chosen to discontinue operations in Japan and deregister with the Financial Services Agency by January 31, 2023, as part of efforts to prioritize resources and investments.

The official note read in part: “Current market conditions in Japan, in combination with a weak global crypto market, mean the resources needed to grow our business in Japan further aren’t justified at this time. As a result, Kraken will no longer service clients in Japan through Payward Asia.”

Notably, all affected Kraken clients have until the end of January 2023 to withdraw their fiat and crypto holdings from the exchange to external platforms.

Furthermore, the Japanese Kraken subsidiary Payward Asia operated from 2014 to 2018 before pulling out in April 2018 to focus its resources on growth in other geographical areas. And in October 2020, the subsidiary decided to relaunch with a headquarters in Tokyo, offering spot trading on five significant assets with plans to expand. Unfortunately, Payward Asia’s second comeback is now terminating.

In recent months, Kraken has been making efforts to cut operations. On November 30, Kraken said that, in light of challenging market conditions, it had taken one of its difficult decisions to reduce its worldwide staff by about 1,100 workers, or 30% of its personnel.

Nonetheless, Kraken is among the top prominent crypto asset managers that have published specific details of customer assets under its watch.