Bitget Quits Japan, Forces Traders to Exit by Year’s End

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget announced this week that it will stop serving customers in Japan, setting a Dec. 31, 2026, deadline after which any open trading positions will be closed automatically.

Bitget said the decision reflects its “ongoing commitment to regulatory compliance” in Japan. The exchange primarily offers derivatives trading, a form of trading based on contracts tied to an asset’s price rather than the asset itself, along with copy-trading tools that let users automatically mirror other traders’ moves.

The shutdown will happen in stages. Starting Nov. 1, accounts flagged as belonging to Japanese residents will move into what Bitget calls “Close-Only” mode. Users in that mode cannot open new trades, though they can still withdraw funds. Nearly all other services, including spot trading, futures and yield-generating products, will be turned off.

Anyone who believes they were wrongly flagged as a Japanese resident can prove otherwise through identity verification, ideally before the Nov. 1 cutoff. Miss that date, and the account gets treated as Japan-based regardless.

By Dec. 31, any positions still open will be forcibly closed, meaning traders who wait too long could see their holdings sold at whatever price the market offers at that moment, not necessarily a price they’d choose. Forced closures rarely favor the trader, which is why exchanges typically encourage users to unwind positions themselves and move funds well before the deadline.

Japan requires crypto platforms to register under its Payment Services Act, a law designed to protect investors by requiring exchanges to separate customer funds from company funds and follow strict anti-money-laundering rules. Those obligations extend well beyond filing paperwork, requiring compliance systems, reporting procedures and ongoing oversight that many offshore exchanges ultimately decide are not worth building.

Bitget has given no indication it plans to register in Japan or return later. The company says it will continue emailing affected users with account-specific instructions.

The next signal to watch is whether other offshore exchanges reach the same conclusion as regulatory scrutiny continues to tighten. The Nov. 1 and Dec. 31 deadlines will also provide a practical test of how efficiently Bitget manages a wind-down that has already entered its final stages.