Houbi Pro Exchange To Suspend Crypto Trading For its Users In Japan 10

Houbi Pro Exchange To Suspend Crypto Trading For its Users In Japan

Huobi Pro has sent an email to its users in Japan indicating that the crypto exchange will be suspending trading in the country effective July 2nd, 2018. The 4 takeaways from the email as transcribed by Coinpost.jp are as follows:

  1. Under the laws of Japan, Huobi Pro has suspended virtual currency exchange services for its users in Japan
  2. Huobi Pro will go ahead and delete its Japanese-centric pages from its homepage beginning july 2nd
  3. Suspension of services to commence on the 2nd of July, 2018
  4. Further information to be provided at a later date

The exchange would later issue the following disclaimer when users in Japan attempted to use the site:

1. Huobi is a company that deals with electronic assets through the Internet and telecommunication network, compliant with the laws of each country and conducting business activities. Huobi Global Limited. Is a company registered and established in the Seychelles Republic under the relevant laws of the Seychelles Republic.

2. Huobi does not register the virtual currency exchange business based on the “funds settlement law” of Japan. Therefore, we do not conduct virtual currency exchange business in Japan.

3. Huobi respects Japanese law and has not solicited any persons who reside in Japan (individuals or corporations) at all.

From this disclaimer, it can be deduced that the exchange is not registered in Japan through the Financial Services Agency (FSA). Huobi Pro follows a similar move by HitBTC which also suspended trading activities in the country due to the same reasons. HitBTC had announced it was in talks with the FSA to launch its activities in line with the regulatory framework of the country. Perhaps Huobi Pro will follow a similar path and draft a road-map of reestablishing operations in Japan.

The Japanese regulators have been meticulously cracking the whip on exchanges in the country. The FSA issued business improvement orders to 6 exchanges on Friday, June 22nd. This act by the agency has been blamed for the flash crash that soon followed on the same day and led to Bitcoin trading at levels of $5,800 by the 24th of June.

As much as crypto enthusiasts and traders might dislike regulation, the sooner the guidelines are ironed out by the major stake-holding countries (USA, Japan, S, Korea, Russia, Australia, UK), the sooner the markets will resume to their winning ways. The country of Malta has led the way by example when it approved 3 cryptocurrency and blockchain bills earlier today.