In an announcement of 15 January on the Japanese Binance support website, the exchange revealed that it would restrict access to the Japanese people at an unspecified later date.
The restriction is to be introduced gradually and details will be disclosed at a later date, as announced.
There are currently no restrictions and Japanese users are able to operate the exchange normally.
Previously, Binance was based in Japan after it left China. In March 2018, the exchange moved its operations to Malta after being officially warned by the Japanese regulatory authorities for the lack of a national exchange license.
Since then, several exchanges have registered with the regulator. The rival Binance Huobi obtained its license in January 2019 and the BitBox exchange of the Japanese corporation LINE secured it in September.
Binance may have encountered similar regulatory difficulties even though it is not legally resident in the country. The Kraken Cryptographic Exchange stopped providing services to Japanese residents in April 2018, albeit citing rising business costs - potentially due to the licensing requirement.
