Bitget Books a One-Way Flight Out of Japan 🇯🇵✈️

Bitget will wind down its operations in Japan, ending a multi-year standoff with the country's financial regulators. The crypto exchange said Monday it has stopped accepting new registrations from residents of Japan and will begin imposing account restrictions on Nov. 1. Any open positions still held by users on Dec. 31 will be forcibly closed by the platform.

Users who believe they have been wrongly classified as Japanese residents must complete "Level 2" identification, including address verification, by Nov. 1, or have their accounts designated as belonging to Japan-based customers. Bitget said affected users will receive follow-up instructions by email outlining required procedures and options for managing their assets before the year-end cutoff.

The exit follows repeated regulatory warnings. Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) issued a warning to Bitget in March 2023 and again in November 2024, alleging the exchange was providing crypto services to residents of Japan without registration. In June 2025, the Kanto Local Finance Bureau, a regional arm of the Ministry of Finance, warned BTG Technology Holdings Limited, which it said operated under the Bitget name, for soliciting online over-the-counter derivatives transactions without registration.

The move comes as Japan moves to overhaul its crypto rules, passing legislation earlier this year to bring digital assets under formal financial regulations. Bitget did not announce comparable pullouts from other jurisdictions in its Monday statement.