Bitget is shutting the door on Japan residents after repeated regulatory warnings, stopping new signups now and setting Nov. 1 and Dec. 31 deadlines for account restrictions and automatic position closures.
- No new Japan registrations
- Restrictions begin Nov. 1
- Open positions closed by Dec. 31
- Japan regulators had already warned Bitget multiple times
Bitget said it stopped accepting new registrations from residents of Japan on Monday. Existing accounts identified as belonging to Japan residents will face restrictions starting Nov. 1, and any positions still open on Dec. 31 will be closed automatically. Users who believe they were incorrectly flagged as Japan residents must complete Level 2 identity verification, including address verification, before Nov. 1.
That matters because Japan is not some loose, shrug-and-move-on market. It is a tightly regulated financial jurisdiction, and exchanges that want to operate there are expected to have the proper registration and oversight. Bitget did not get there, or did not stay there, and regulators were clearly not in the mood to keep repeating themselves forever.
Japan’s Financial Services Agency first warned Bitget in March 2023, then again in November 2024. In June 2025, the Kanto Local Finance Bureau issued a separate warning to BTG Technology Holdings Limited, naming a company operating under the Bitget brand and alleging it had solicited online over-the-counter derivatives transactions without registration.
That sequence makes the decision less of a surprise and more of a deadline finally met. If a platform wants to offer financial services in a country like Japan, it needs to do the paperwork, get licensed, and keep its house in order. Regulators tend to get less charming when the answer is “we’ll sort it out later.”
Level 2 verification is simply a higher tier of identity check. In plain English, it is the exchange’s way of confirming whether a user is actually based where the account says it is. For Bitget, that residency call now determines whether the account can stay active under its Japan policy.
The Japan exit also fits a broader pattern. Bitget has been tightening access in places where it lacks the right authorization, while trying to build a cleaner expansion path in markets where it can secure the proper approvals.
In July, Bitget said it is not licensed, approved, registered, or supervised by Singapore’s Monetary Authority of Singapore. Singapore remains a prohibited jurisdiction under Bitget’s terms of use. In other words, if you are in Singapore, Bitget is not pretending otherwise.
Last month, Bitget completed registration on New Zealand’s Financial Service Providers Register across several financial service categories and joined the country’s Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman dispute resolution scheme. But the New Zealand Companies Office is clear that FSPR registration does not by itself mean government approval or active regulatory supervision. Registration is not the same thing as a full green light.
Bitget is also eyeing the United States, where it says it plans to establish a separate entity before launching services. The company says it intends to secure money-transmitter, broker-dealer, and derivatives approvals before entering that market. That is the right sequence if the goal is to build a real business rather than sprint into the biggest market on earth and hope the rules sort themselves out.
Bitget CEO Gracy Chen has also pointed to growing demand in tokenized traditional assets. According to Chen, those assets accounted for between 20% and 30% of Bitget’s spot trading volume during the previous quarter. She also said more than half of Bitget’s users held both cryptocurrencies and stocks.
Those figures are company-reported, so they should be treated as internal business data rather than market-wide truth. Still, they show where exchanges are trying to go next: beyond pure crypto trading into tokenized exposure to traditional markets.
That shift has real appeal. Tokenized traditional assets can bring familiar assets onto blockchain rails, potentially offering faster settlement, round-the-clock access, and a more crypto-native user experience. But the legal and practical fine print matters a lot. Tokenized exposure is not always the same as direct ownership, and the rights attached to a token can be very different from the rights attached to an actual share or fund unit. The slick interface may look futuristic; the legal structure underneath can be a lot less glamorous.
Bitget’s Japan retreat is the clearest sign yet that the fantasy of borderless exchange growth keeps running into real-world compliance. The industry is moving toward a harder truth: if an exchange wants to keep growing across multiple markets, it has to choose between proper licensing, restricted access, or leaving some jurisdictions altogether.
Key questions and takeaways
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Why is Bitget leaving Japan?
Bitget was warned multiple times by Japanese regulators, including the Financial Services Agency in 2023 and 2024 and the Kanto Local Finance Bureau in 2025. Rather than keep fighting that battle, it is restricting access for Japan residents. -
What happens to Japan-based accounts?
Bitget says restrictions start on Nov. 1, and any positions still open on Dec. 31 will be closed automatically. Users who believe they were misclassified must complete Level 2 verification before the deadline. -
Is Bitget licensed in Singapore?
No. Bitget said it is not licensed, approved, registered, or supervised by Singapore’s Monetary Authority of Singapore, and Singapore remains a prohibited jurisdiction under its terms. -
Does New Zealand registration mean Bitget is fully approved there?
No. New Zealand’s Companies Office says FSPR registration does not equal government approval or active supervision. It is a registration step, not a blanket regulatory blessing. -
What is Bitget planning in the U.S.?
Bitget says it plans to create a separate U.S. entity and pursue money-transmitter, broker-dealer, and derivatives approvals before launching services there. -
Why do tokenized assets matter here?
They show where exchanges are trying to grow beyond spot crypto. But users need to understand the legal rights behind the token, because tokenized exposure is not always the same as owning the underlying asset.
Further reading
A few useful documents and context pieces on Japan’s rulebook, Bitget’s expansion, and the tokenized-assets angle.
- Amendments to Insider Trading Exemptions for Stock-Based
- Bitget secures New Zealand registration to expand tokenized
- Laws & Regulations : FSA
- Bitget
- Japan Crypto Regulation 2026: FSA Rules Explained for
- Bitget Leads 2025 Tokenized Stocks Boom, Block Scholes
- Bitget’s Bold Vision: CMO Ignacio Aguirre Franco on
- Kraken and Franklin Templeton Expand Tokenized Assets Push
