REGULATION

FTX's website traffic was highest in South Korea, Japan, and Singapore in the past. The reason why Japanese compliant user assets were not affected is?

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FTX

The cryptocurrency price website CoinGecko conducted a survey through the traffic tool SimilarWeb from January to October this year to find the monthly unique visits to "ftx.com" in various countries. South Korea, Japan, and Singapore ranked in the top three, with Taiwan ranking seventh. According to Chain News, sources stated that FTX has approximately 5 million registered users globally, with about 126,000 users in Taiwan who have completed KYC verification. It is important to note that CoinGecko's inference is based on traffic proportion rather than trading volume for assessment; therefore, it is not possible to speculate on the actual amount of financial loss in each country.

Japanese Regulators Require Asset Segregation, FTX Japan Unaffected

On November 12th Japan time, FTX Japan released a announcement, clearly listing digital asset balances and legal currency balances, stating that users' funds are all managed independently by trusts and cold wallets, reassuring users. However, as the FTX Group's application for bankruptcy reorganization includes FTX Japan, it is still awaiting legal proceedings. The customer service window is managed by Liquid, which was acquired by FTX, here.

How did FTX Japan users manage to escape unscathed? This is because the Financial Services Agency of Japan issues licenses to cryptocurrency exchanges, requiring all local operators to apply for legal operation and strictly adhere to the regulations on the separation of user assets and fund trust.

Although Japanese user assets are currently awaiting the U.S. bankruptcy process, Japanese creditors will have the right to seek compensation from the physical entity of FTX in Japan. Perhaps compared to global users, they have a better chance of coming out unscathed.

Compared to exchanges self-regulating asset reserves, this time through the Japanese government's regulatory licensing system, the actual role of investor protection has been demonstrated.