FTX reportedly gets 3 more months to stop all operations in Japan

The Japanese subsidiary of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX has received approval from local regulators to continue sorting out issues with withdrawals until next year.

The Kanto Local Finance Bureau, a local financial regulator running under the Ministry of Finance of Japan, has issued a statement regarding FTX Japan operations, Reuters reported.

The Japanese authority has postponed FTX’s business suspension deadline until March 9, 2023, extending the original time limit by three months. In mid-November, Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) initially requested FTX Japan to suspend business orders by Dec. 9.

According to the announcement, the Kanto Local Finance Bureau has ordered the extension of the deadline because FTX Japan has so far failed to return assets from custody to creditors. The regulator emphasized that FTX Japan’s trading system continues to be out of function.

FTX Japan subsequently confirmed the latest news in a blog post, stating that the exchange is proceeding with a “business improvement plan” that the firm submitted to the Kanto Local Finance Bureau on Nov. 16. The exchange noted that the platform has been out of function, adding that it’s “not possible to quickly return customer’s assets.”

The news comes shortly after FTX Japan on Dec. 1 released a roadmap to resume withdrawals. The exchange previously confirmed that its customers’ assets were not part of FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings. The firm was initially planning to resume withdrawals by the end of 2022.

As previously reported, FTX launched its Japanese arm in June 2022 after acquiring Japanese crypto exchange Liquid in February.