A regulated Japanese cryptocurrency exchange is shutting down only to relaunch as part of the Huobi team. The new exchange is going to support six cryptocurrencies and 11 trading pairs. The existing Bittrade customers need to open new accounts, complete KYC verification, and transfer their assets to the new platform.
Shutting down of Bittrade
Japan has regulated 16 exchanges till date, Bittrade being one of them. Biitrade now has announced the complete termination of its trading system. The exchange has plans to reopen with the Huobi family.
Huobi Japan Holding Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Huobi Global, has acquired a majority stake in Bittrade. Huobi itself stopped entertaining Japanese residents in June due to regulatory issues. Huobi is not a registered crypto exchange in Japan.
Bittrade needs its existing customers to sign up for a new account and also complete the KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure. The statement reads:
“Please prepare your identity confirmation document again … from the viewpoint of thoroughly pursuing the criminal profit transfer prevention law, please register new accounts.”
The current trading systems were in collaboration with Bitbank Corp. under a legal agreement. Bitbank also operates a regulated crypto exchange in Japan.
Asset Transfers
Bittrade has announced that it will not transfer customer assets. Instead, the exchange has provided its customers with a specific procedure to transfer their own assets onto the new platform.
Japanese Yen in Bittrade accounts must be transferred to registered bank accounts by Jan. 18, 2019. Cryptocurrencies can be transferred directly from existing Bittrade accounts to new Huobi accounts once they are set up.
The exchange emphasized that the new platform will handle all cryptocurrencies currently supported by Bittrade: BTC, BCH, XRP, MONA, ETH, and LTC. The first four on the list are tradeable against Yen. Additionally, BCH, ETH, LTC, and MONA can be traded against BTC. Bittrade stated that the new system will also offer ETH/JPY, LTC/JPY, and XRP/BTC trading pairs.
The exact words the exchange wrote are:
“ We are sorry for the inconvenience caused by the termination of the Bittrade service and updating to the new Huobi system. In the new system.we will continue to offer more liquidity and convenience services, so we appreciate your patronage.”
Time frame
The new Huobi platform is expected to kick-start from December 10. The exchange plans to start accepting deposits and begin the trading process on Jan 8. The new web address will be huobi.co.jp.
Bittrade suspended new account registrations on Nov 30. Deposits in both cryptocurrencies and Japanese Yen will be stopped on Dec 14, followed by transactions on Dec 27. Withdrawals and account access will cease on Jan 18.
The exchange clarified that even after users can no longer log into their accounts:
“Their assets will not be lost due to the termination of this service. However, after January 18, it is only possible to withdraw the full balance of both virtual currencies and Japanese Yen.”
What are your views about Bittrade shutting down its service? Let us know in the comments below. PCEX is a safe and secure platform which offers a sub-broker franchise. Start trading today at www.pcex.io
