- Japanese authorities have issued warnings to several exchanges that they are operating in the country without a license
- Binance, Bybit, and BitForex are among the exchanges targeted
- Binance received a warning from Japan over the same issue in 2021
Multiple cryptocurrency exchanges have been flagged by the Japanese financial authorities as operating without a license. Binance, Bybit, MEXC Global, and BitForex are among the exchanges targeted by Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) as the country enforces the restrictions that it has been working on for over four years. The country already had tight regulations, and the actions taken against the glut of exchanges exemplify how it plans to enforce them.
Move Typifies Latest Crackdown
The FSA issued the warning letter to the exchanges on Friday, stating that they had violated the country’s fund settlement laws by conducting business without proper registration and added that the current list of unregistered entities might not accurately represent the current state of unregistered businesses.
The FSA’s action follows a crackdown on unregistered crypto exchanges in Japan, where new regulations requiring crypto exchanges to register with the agency and obtain a license were introduced in 2020.
Binance Previously Reported
The warning highlights the increasing regulatory scrutiny faced by the cryptocurrency industry in Japan and other nations as regulators become more concerned about the risks associated with unregulated crypto exchanges, such as fraud, money laundering, and market manipulation.
The warning issued to Binance is not its first – the company, which was hit with several charges by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last month, was issued with a warning in June 2021 for operating without authorization, and it seems that the exchange has not appeased the FSA since those complaints were raised.
