Binance reenters the Japanese crypto market with the acquisition of Sakura Exchange

Binance has bought Japanese crypto firm Sakura Exchange BitCoin as the world’s largest crypto exchange makes a new bid to enter Japan a year after being warned by regulators about its unauthorized activities there.

The agreement allows Binancewhich is owned by entrepreneur Changpeng Zhao, to re-enter the Japanese crypto market through an entity licensed by the country’s Financial Services Agency.

The deal follows a series of regulatory controversies for Binance in Japan. In June 2021, regulators warned the exchange that it was conducting unauthorized trading with clients in the country. This marked a second warning from authorities, who reprimanded the crypto exchange in 2018 for the same activity.

Binance’s acquisition of Sakura comes amid heightened industry scrutiny following the rapid collapse of rival exchange FTX, sending shock waves through the industry.

Sakura is licensed in Japan and offers 11 token pairs.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.