Share this article
Japan Warns Binance Exchange Over Licensing
The Japanese financial regulator has issued a warning to Binance over its operation legitimacy in Japan.
By Wolfie Zhao
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 7:43 a.m. Published Mar 23, 2018, 3:00 a.m.
Japan's top financial regulator has issued a warning to cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
In a statement published by the Financial Services Agency on Friday, the agency confirmed Thursday's news that suggested Binance was about to be warned by the financial watchdog given its lack of registration with the regulator.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Yet the statement does not entail whether the regulator is weighing criminal charges, as indicated in the previous report from Nikkei. The exchange told Bloomberg earlier this year that it was working with Japanese regulators to secure a license.
Responding to the FSA statement, Zhao Changpeng, Binance's CEO, confirmed receipt of the warning letter and stated the firm's legal team is in dialogue with the agency.
No need to worry. Some negative news often turn out to be positive in the long term. Chinese have a proverb for this. New (often better) opportunities always emerge during times of change.
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) March 23, 2018
Founded in summer 2017 and based in Hong Kong, Binance has emerged as one of world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges by trade volume in the past six months. According to data from Alexa, the firm currently sees roughly 9 percent of its traffic visit from Japan.
The FSA has warned other overseas firms about offering services to Japanese citizens in the past.
As previously reported by CoinDesk, the agency issued multiple warnings last month to a Macau-based cryptocurrency firm that provided bitcoin purchases and initial coin offering services to Japanese investors. The firm pulled out of the country following the warnings.
Yen image via CoinDesk's archive
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Bitcoin Market Echoes Early 2022 as Onchain Stress Mounts: Glassnode
Rising bitcoin supply in loss, weakening spot demand and cautious derivatives positioning were among the issues raised by the data provider in its weekly newsletter.
What to know:
- Glassnode's weekly newsletter shows multiple onchain metrics now resemble conditions seen at the start of the 2022 bear market, including elevated top buyer stress and a sharp rise in supply held at a loss.
- Off chain indicators show softening demand and fading risk appetite, with declining ETF flows and weakening spot volumes.
Top Stories
