Can a legal, licensed crypto exchange be unregulated at the same time? While that might sound counter-intuitive, cryptocurrency exchanges that expand to overseas markets are finding themselves in this strange situation. They have legal, licensed status in their native home country, but are in legal purgatory in the new markets they expand into. Mike Kayamori, CEO of Quoinex, the first Japanese licensed crypto exchange with a global presence, sits down with Marcel from news.Bitcoin.com to talk more on being a licensed exchange from Japan in uncharted legal waters in Singapore.
Marcel: Tell me more about the differences in Bitcoin’s regulatory framework in terms of Japan v Singapore. Quoinex has a license to operate an exchange according to the Japanese Financial Services Agency, but recently ran into issues with the CIMB bank in Singapore.
Japan has a regulation framework, Singapore has a zero tolerance policy.
Mike: We are a global exchange. We started in Singapore. Relocated to Japan last March due to advice from the Japanese FSA. This was because 80% of our trading volume was in Japanese Yen.
It took us 18 months to get licenced and registered in Japan. There, we have 6 or 7 banks that provide banking services for us. Regulation is clear. If you are a regulated exchange you offer your services to Japanese residents. It’s not clear in Singapore. There’s no bill, even though something will be announced by the end of the year. Then, that needs to pass and legislation will take 3 more months…
