Popular derivatives exchange BitMEX closes its doors for users in Japan
BitMEX announced on its blog on Tuesday that it will restrict Japanese residents from registering on the platform as of April 30 and ban the use of the platform as of May 1 for existing Japanese residents. According to a Ad of BitMEX , Existing Japanese residents will not be able to place orders that would open a new position or increase an existing open position.
Otherwise, the open positions will not be affected and will continue according to the terms of the corresponding contract. The restrictions are in response to amendments to Japan's Financial Instruments and Exchange Law and Japan's Payment Services Law effective as of May 1, 2020, following the order from the cabinet earlier this month.
[amazon box="B07M6R4NK3"]BitMEX statements
BitMEX has committed to continuing to work with the Japanese regulatory authorities to support their goals for the Japanese market. Ironically, this announcement comes on the heels of Japanese regulators, including the Japan Financial Services Agency (FSA), who approve the native token from the Huobi Global exchange as a supported crypto asset in addition to 25 other tokens. HT will begin trading on Huobi Japan in May.
Although BitMEX pulled out of its presence in Japan, the exchange continues to advance in other geographies, including India, with its investment in CoinDCX in March. BitMEX announced which would launch an ETHUSD Quanto futures contract on May 5, 2020. The new product will be the first of its kind on the market. ETHUSD futures would be similar to ETHUSD perpetual exchanges. BitMEX also launched a new pair of perpetual exchange contracts on its platform to trade Ripple against USD with leverage in February.
This is not the first time that BitMEX has taken on regulators with the exchange which is reportedly under investigation by the US Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for allowing based traders in the US Use your platform in December 2019.
