Coinbase (COIN), the largest U.S.-based crypto exchange, said early Wednesday it is halting its operations in Japan as part of a larger operational review that may result in shuttering its business in the country.
“Due to market conditions, our company has made the difficult decision to halt operations in Japan and to conduct a complete review of our business in the country,” Coinbase said.
“All Coinbase Japan customers will have until February 16th, 2023 JST to withdraw their fiat and crypto holdings from Coinbase,” the company added.
Crypto holdings remaining with the platform after Feb. 16 will be converted into yen and sent to a Guaranty Account at the Legal Affairs Bureau for retrieval, the statement said.
The major digital asset trading venue announced it would lay off 950 workers, or roughly 20% of staff, last week, putting its total staff cuts over three rounds of layoffs over 2,000 since June 2022. Coinbase said the decision would reduce its operating expenses by 25% between its fourth quarter 2022 and first quarter 2023 earnings results.
Coinbase is still targeting a previously stated “loss guardrail” of negative $500 million adjusted EBITDA for 2022.
The company announced the launch of its Japan operation on Aug. 18, 2021, which included a partnership with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), one of the country’s largest banks.
Total trading volume in crypto spot markets is currently $87.6 trillion, down 23% over the last year according to crypto indexer Nomics.
By spot market trading volume, Coinbase is the second-largest crypto exchange and the largest of those regulated in the United States. The company accounted for 0.87% of the past year’s trading, though the number has increased over the past month to 0.98%.
Coinbase shares were down about 1% early Wednesday.
Since the beginning of January, Coinbase shares have risen by about 50%; the stock lost more than 80% during 2022.
Last week, S&P Global Ratings downgraded Coinbase’s credit and senior unsecured debt rating to BB- from BB.
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