Finance

Coinbase Pulls the Plug in Japan: 4 Weeks to Pull Out Funds 

01/20/2023
Bitcoin Ethereum News
  • Due to severe market conditions, Coinbase is to halt operations in Japan. 
  • Customers are given until February 16, 2023, to withdraw funds. 
  • The remaining funds will be converted to Yen and sent to Guaranty Account.

One of the largest United States-based crypto exchanges, Coinbase (COIN), announced early Wednesday about halting their operations in the land of the rising Sun, Japan. The step is part of a larger operational review that could result in pulling the plug on its business in the country. 

Coinbase said that: 

“Due to market conditions, our company has made the difficult decision to halt operations in Japan and to conduct a complete review of our business in the country.”

The company added further that Japan’s customers would have until February 16, 2023, to withdraw crypto and fiat holdings from Coinbase. Providing them enough time to do so. 

The statement further says that those who fail to withdraw before the last date and their holdings will be converted to Yen and sent to a Guaranty Account at the Legal Affairs Bureau for retrieval. 

Coinbase is suffering a lot due to crypto winter and other associated market conditions, so much so that just last week, they laid off 950 employees, almost 20% of staff. In June 2022, the exchange had to let go of over 2,000 employees in three rounds. According to the team, this decision would help reduce its operating cost by 25% between its fourth quarter of 2022 and its earnings in the first quarter of 2023. 

All these efforts by Coinbase are en route of targeting a previously stated “loss guardrail,” where a negative $500 million was adjusted in EBITDA for 2022. Along with partners Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFS), Japan’s largest bank, Coinbase, announced its operation on August 18, 2021. 

The total trading volume at the crypto spot market is currently at around $87.6 trillion, which is down by 23% compared to last year’s metrics, per crypto indexer Nomics. If spot market trading volume is considered, this makes Coinbase the second-largest crypto exchange and the biggest regulated one in the US. The company also managed to be at 0.87%, but with last month’s data, it increased to 0.98%. Its shares were also down by 1% on Wednesday. 

The stock of Coinbase Global, Inc. was currently trading at $50.21, with a drop of 7.26% in the last 24 hours. While its market cap remains strong at $11.40 billion, its volume was 24.64 million shares in the market. The supposed price target is $74.29, with projected earning growth from $11.70 to $5.92 per share. 

On the previous day, the price closed at $54.14, while today opened at $54.22; with a 52 weeks range of $31.55 and $232.00 taken into consideration, the current price wascloser to the lower end. At the same time, the consensus analyst targets prices as high as $275.00 and as low as $30.00, with the average prediction resting at $74.29.

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Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2023/01/19/coinbase-pulls-the-plug-in-japan-4-weeks-to-pull-out-funds/