Japan Warns Binance Exchange Over Licensing

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.

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.

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