Hassan Maishera
After a two-year hiatus, Binance, the world's largest digital asset exchange by volume, has relaunched its operations in Japan, marking another significant milestone for the crypto giant within the Asian market. The new platform is designed atop an existing popular local exchange — Sakura Exchange Bitcoin— which Binance acquired late last year in November for an undisclosed sum of money.
Binance Japan affords clients, investors, and crypto enthusiasts access to 32 digital tokens for spot trading purposes and 34 for direct swapping/conversion-related actions. Additionally, it provides users access to its elaborate suite of peripheral Web3 offerings/products.
Following the relaunch, Japanese residents are no longer eligible to create new accounts via the Binance Global platform. Moreover, existing access will conclude at the end of Q4 2023. Migrations to Binance Japan will start on August 14, with all of the transitionary processes complying with Japanese identity verification processes.
These developments have thrust Binance’s business operations under the purview of Japan's registration laws while aligning the firm with the country’s larger vision for a Web3 economy. Moreover, it has shone a spotlight on the company’s commitment to accruing the necessary licenses to operate in adherence with the various regulatory standards put forth by governments across the planet.
A competitive edge, the Binance way!
With its latest move, Binance is blowing the Japanese crypto market wide open, providing users direct access to over thirty virtual currency investments. This number is higher than any other exchange in the county today, even more than prominent entities like Bitbank and BitTrade. That said, the first few months may see customers facing some difficulties in executing peer-to-peer (P2P) trades, primarily due to a lack of liquidity.
Binance Japan’s initial selection of tokens includes a number of popular tokens like BTC, ETH, BNB, ADA, ALGO, ASTR, ATOM, AVAX, AXS, BAT, BCH, CHZ, DAI, DOGE, DOT, ENJ, ETC, IOST, JASMY, LINK, LTC, MATIC, MKR, ONT, QTUM, SAND, SHIB, SOL, TRX, XEM, XLM, XRP, XTZ, and ZIL. However, it is probably the inclusion of Astart Network’s ASTR token that puts Binance ahead of other rival platforms as it opens up new opportunities for Japanese users.
Astar Network is Japan's most popular smart contract platform and is designed to support both the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and WebAssembly environments. The platform is highly scalable and is ideal for dApp developers thanks to its low gas costs and high cross-system interoperability. To achieve these feats, Astar makes use of a Layer 2 framework underpinned by technologies such as Plasma and zero-knowledge (ZK) rollups.
Moreover, Astar's AI assistant, Astari is designed to enhance its users’ UI experience — by providing real-time guidance, answering queries, and navigating complex environments — while allowing seamless access to a holistic blockchain dev environment. Technically speaking, Astari makes use of a machine learning (ML) enhanced advanced language model to support developers within its ecosystem as well as maximize its security and scaling capabilities.
An undeniably bright future
Binance's entry — or should one say re-entry — into the Japanese market comes with its set of unique problems; however, the fact that the company is now a registered entity signifies its commitment to compliance. In this vein, it also bears mentioning that over the past year or two, Binance has secured several operation permits from governments such as Australia, Japan, Indonesia, France, Italy, Spain, and Poland. Most recently, the company revealed that it is preparing to launch in Thailand.
By presenting customers with a diverse selection of virtual currencies and aligning with Japan’s hyper-aggressive outlook toward the Web3 market, Binance is now at the precipice of the ongoing Japanese crypto revolution. Moreover, its listing of ASTAR adds fuel to the claim that the firm is highly bullish about the market’s future in Japan. Thus, it will be interesting to see how things continue to shape out for the firm — especially from an Asian lens — from here on out.
