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Binance Holdings Limited — Japan FSA warning target・unregistered overseas operator (historical record)

ConfidenceLikelyUpdated2026-07-29Review by2027-01-29Sources5Machine-translatedOriginal (JA)

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This entry sits under exchanges index. Read it with FSA crypto-asset exchange registration system — number system / Local Finance Bureau jurisdiction / registration requirements for adjacent context and Japan Financial Regulation — Legal Framework for Tokens, Crypto Assets, and Payments for the broader system boundary.

Historical record entry · FSA unregistered status: end of 2017年–2022年10月 · warning letters: 2 in total (2018-03 / 2021-06) · 2022年10月 unregistered status resolved by the FSA registration of Binance Japan Co., Ltd.

Active Japanese-entity entry → jp-exchange-binance-japan

1. Corporate entity & shareholders (overview of the global parent)

Relationship between Binance Holdings Limited and Binance Japan Co., Ltd.:

The following is the Japanese regulatory distinction based on the FSA’s warning list for unregistered operators and the current JVCEA member list. It does not infer Binance Holdings Limited’s global corporate location or intragroup capital relationships. ^[Sources: https://www.fsa.go.jp/policy/virtual_currency02/index.html; https://jvcea.or.jp/member/.]

Item Binance Holdings Limited (this entry) Binance Japan Co., Ltd.
Entity identified in Japan Overseas entity named in FSA warning letters Japanese entity listed in the current JVCEA member list
FSA response Warned as an unregistered operator on 2018-03-23 and 2021-06-25 Crypto-asset exchange operator, Director-General of the Kanto Local Finance Bureau No. 00031
Treatment in this entry Historical record of unregistered-operation warnings See the separate active-entity entry jp-exchange-binance-japan
  • Trade name: Binance Holdings Limited
  • Founder: Changpeng Zhao (Zhao Changpeng, commonly known as CZ)
  • Established: 2017年 (CZ, a Chinese-Canadian, began the venture in Shenzhen and later incorporated it as a Hong Kong entity)
  • Service launch: 2017年7月 (the global exchange Binance.com)
  • Major locations (chronological): Shanghai/Shenzhen (2017) → Hong Kong (2018) → Malta (2018–) → Cayman Islands, etc. (the 2020年s)

2. Course of licensing & unregistered status in Japan

Binance Holdings Limited (and global Binance) provided services to Japanese residents from the end of 2017年, but continued operating without obtaining crypto-asset exchange registration under the Payment Services Act.

  • Unregistered period: end of 2017年–2022年10月13日 (the day before Binance Japan’s registration)
  • Warning response status:
    • Even after the 1st warning (2018-03), it effectively continued to allow Japanese residents to use the service
    • In the 2nd warning (2021-06), it rebutted that it was “not actively soliciting”
    • 2022年10月 formally ended unregistered Japan-facing operations on the occasion of the FSA registration of Binance Japan Co., Ltd.

3. Business expansion in Japan (history)

The FSA warning material states that Binance Holdings Limited was conducting an unregistered crypto-asset exchange business with Japanese residents as counterparties on the warning dates. This entry does not infer the number of assets or the scope of Japan-facing products from that material.

4. Scope of business (for Japanese residents・during the unregistered period)

The FSA warning material does not enumerate products or deposit and withdrawal functions. This entry is limited to the regulatory fact of unregistered operation on the warning dates and does not fix a historical product list.

5. Market share & presence (during the unregistered period)

The FSA warning material does not contain figures that permit comparison of Japan-resident user counts, trading volume, or market share with peers. Warning frequency is not used as a proxy for market size, and this entry does not infer a global rank.

6. History & major incidents

Global growth period (2017–2018年)

  • 2017年7月: Binance.com service launched (founder CZ established it in Shenzhen)
  • Latter half of 2017年–2018年: Japanese-language service offering began, and use by Japanese residents spread
  • 2018年1月: With the Coincheck hack as a catalyst, momentum for tighter Japanese regulation rose
  • 2018年3月22日: The FSA issued its first warning letter to Binance Holdings Limited (admonished as an operator conducting virtual-currency exchange business without registration). Hong Kong was identified as its location at the time
  • 2018年3月: Binance announced a policy of relocating to Malta (moving to Malta, which was advancing regulatory development as a “blockchain island”). It effectively abandoned building a base in Japan

Regulatory-avoidance period (2018–2021年)

  • 2018–2020: This section centers on the warning facts confirmed by the FSA and does not infer the scale of Japan-resident use or the status of Japan-facing marketing
  • 2019年: BNB (Binance Coin) migrated to its own chain (Binance Chain)
  • 2020年: Binance Smart Chain (now BNB Chain) launched. Entered the DeFi ecosystem
  • 2021年6月: The FSA issued its 2nd warning letter to Binance Holdings Limited. Continued provision of services to Japanese residents was confirmed, and it was warned as an unregistered operator. At the time, Binance’s corporate location was disclosed as “unknown”. Binance rebutted that it was not actively soliciting

Regular entry through Japanese incorporation (2022年)

  1. 2022年7月The Binance group recruited Takeshi Chino, former representative of Kraken Japan, as its Japan representative. Full-fledged launch of legitimate Japanese entry
  2. 2022年10月14日Binance Japan Co., Ltd. registered with the FSA’s Kanto Local Finance Bureau as a crypto-asset exchange operator (第00031号). This resolved the unregistered status of the Binance group’s Japan-facing operations
  3. 2022年11月30日The Binance group acquired the existing registered operator Sakura Exchange BitCoin Co., Ltd. (SEBC) (developing a substantive operating base as a Japanese entity)
  4. 2022年12月1日Global Binance.com halted new user registrations from within Japan

Settlement with U.S. authorities (2023年)

  • 2023年11月21日: A plea agreement was reached with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)・FinCEN・CFTC and others. Binance Holdings Limited was found criminally liable for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)・anti-money-laundering law (AML)・U.S. sanctions regulations (OFAC) and others. Sanction terms:
    • Corporate fine: approximately 43億 dollars (approximately 6,400億円) — the largest criminal settlement in the history of the U.S. Department of Justice at the time
    • CZ personal fine: 5,000万 dollars
    • CZ agreed to step down as CEO (submitted his resignation the same day)
    • Installation of a compliance Monitor for 5 years
  • 2023年11月21日: Richard Teng became the new CEO
  • 2024年4月30日: A federal court handed CZ a custodial sentence of 4 months (sentencing hearing). He was incarcerated and released in the fall of 2024年

Sorting out the relationship with the Japanese entity (reference)

The above sanctions and settlement by U.S. authorities targeted global Binance Holdings Limited and are kept distinct from the FSA registration of Binance Japan Co., Ltd. as a separate entity and procedure.

7. Historical significance & positioning

The regulatory milestones that can be confirmed in Japan are the 2018 and 2021 warnings to Binance Holdings Limited and the registration of Binance Japan Co., Ltd. as a separate entity. This entry does not infer whether the warnings motivated incorporation or whether this was unique among peers.

  • Changpeng Zhao (Zhao Changpeng / CZ) — Founder of global Binance. Born in China in 1977年 and raised in Canada. After a career at Bloomberg / OKCoin and others, he founded Binance in 2017年. He stepped down as CEO and agreed to a settlement with the DOJ in 2023年11月. A custodial sentence of 4 months was finalized in 2024年4月
  • Richard Teng — The successor CEO after CZ stepped down (2023年11月–). A compliance expert formerly with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)
  • Takeshi Chino — Representative Director of Binance Japan Co., Ltd. Assumed office from 2022年7月. Led the establishment of the Japanese entity as a bridge between global Binance and Japanese regulators (→ see jp-exchange-binance-japan)

Sources

#fintech#jp-foreign-exchange#fsa-warned#unlicensed#binance#resolved-via-local-entity

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