Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world by total volume, is now expanding itself more by getting into the Japanese crypto market. On the 30th of November, Binance announced that it had acquired SEBC, Sakura Exchange BitCoin, a Japan-based crypto exchange. This new acquisition will allow Binance to reenter the country without having any problems because SEBC is already regulated by Japan’s Financial Services Agency.
However, the amount through which Binance acquired it is undisclosed. A spokesperson from Binance told Decrypt that having carried out a significant due diligence process in Japan, we believe SEBC shares our vision for the Japanese crypto market. According to the spokesperson, given its economic size and huge potential in the emerging Web3 industry, Japan will play a vital role in the continued crypto adoption.
It’s not the first time that Binance is trying to foothold itself in the Japanese crypto market, as Binance has previously faced many warnings and regulations from the country’s agencies for operating without registration. For example, the FSA, Financial Services Agency of Japan has issued two warnings to Binance for operating in the country without a license.
The first one was in 2018 when FSA warned that the Japanese had been able to use the exchange despite Binance operating without a license. The second one was in June 2021, when the exchange faced a similar warning, but at that time, the exchange had left the country. This year in September, the exchange again attempted to reenter the country by applying for an operating license with the FSA. But now it has acquired SEBC, which is already regulated by FSA, and it will help Binance to operate in the country without any regulations.
