Japan’s FSA Issues Warning Letter to Crypto Exchange Bybit

Fazzaco learned that Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) has published a warning notice to Bybit Fintech Limited, a Singapore-based major cryptocurrency exchange, saying that the exchange is operating unregistered crypto services in Japan.

The Japanese regulatory body states that the fifth-largest crypto derivatives exchanges by trading volume is not registered before the local authorities to provide digital asset services. According to the notice, Bybit has permitted Japanese citizens to register on the platform and use the platform, despite its unregistered status on the FSA.

This is not the first regulatory-related tussle that Bybit has faced over the year. Earlier, Bybit announced its decision​ to stop to provide services to customers from the United Kingdom in order to comply with the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) ban of crypto derivatives. 

According to Fazzaco’s report, the UK regulator published final rules banning the sale of derivatives and exchange traded notes (ETNs) that reference certain types of cryptoassets to retails consumers in October 2020. The ban has come into effect on 6 January 2021. 

Bybit clients who are U.K. resident or citizen are required to close all their positions and withdraw all account balances by 8AM UTC, March 31, 2021. Thereafter, they will be restricted from accessing or performing any trading activities on Bybit.