MEXC Global — overseas unregistered crypto-asset exchange operator (Japan FSA warnings 2 times)
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No Japan FSA registration · JVCEA non-member · received warning letters 2 times as an unregistered operator (2023-03-31・2024-11-28)
1. Corporate entity / shareholders
- Trade name: MEXC Global (English: MEXC Global Pte. Ltd.)
- Established: 2018 年 4 月 (based on official announcement)
- Head office location: Republic of Singapore
- Parent company / listing status: Unlisted. No external capital raising published
- Shareholding ratio: Not published
The company is a globally expanding centralized crypto-asset exchange providing services in 170 or more countries and regions.
2. Licensing / registration status
- Japan FSA (crypto-asset exchange business): Unregistered
- No registration as a crypto-asset exchange operator under Japan’s Payment Services Act
- JVCEA membership: Non-member (neither Type 1 nor Type 2 applicable)
- Major regulation outside Japan: Registration status with Singapore authorities is not published
On the grounds that it provides services to Japanese residents, the Financial Services Agency issued warning letters in 2023 年 and 2024 年 (see §6 ).
3. Handled currencies
MEXC is known as one of the world’s leading exchanges in terms of the large number of altcoin listings.
- Spot trading pairs: Over 2,300 pairs (as of 2025-12 )
- Listed issues: More than 1,500 kinds of crypto-assets
- 2024 年 new listings: 2,376 issues per year (of which first listings 1,716 · meme coins 605)
- Native token: MX token (MX) — used for platform fee discounts, staking, etc.
- Characteristics: Explicitly states a policy of early-listing meme coins and emerging altcoins. Actively handles small-cap issues that major exchanges do not cover
4. Scope of business
- Spot trading: Yes (maker fee 0% · taker 0.1%, etc.)
- Perpetual futures (Futures): Yes (up to 500 x leverage)
- Copy trading: Yes
- Staking: Yes
- NFT marketplace: Yes
- DEX+ function (decentralized exchange linkage): Yes
- Fiat-currency deposit: Credit card / P2P supported (details per published materials)
- Services for corporations: Published
5. Market share / trading volume
- Number of users: More than 3,000 万 as of the end of 2024 年 (company-published · 2025-01 annual report)
- Futures 24 -hour trading volume: About 94 億 USD (CoinGecko data as of 2025-05 )
- Position among competitors: Within the global top 5 位 in futures trading volume (2024 年 CoinGecko annual report)
- Customer base: Retail-centered. Mainly individual traders oriented toward emerging altcoins and meme coins
- Owing to the large number of listings, has high recognition as a first-listing destination for new issues
6. History / major incidents
| Period | Item |
|---|---|
| 2018-04 | MEXC Global established (Singapore) |
| 2021 | Fully rolled out spot and futures services |
| 2022-12 | CEO John Chen stepped down (described in a Binance official article published 2023-12 ). Details of the successor structure not published |
| 2023-03-31 | Financial Services Agency issued its 1 -th warning letter. Notified that it was conducting crypto-asset exchange business without registration, targeting Japanese residents. In that document, the representative was listed as “unknown” and the location as “Republic of Singapore” |
| 2024-11-28 | Financial Services Agency issued its 2 -th warning letter. Same reason. The representative was listed as “John Chen Ju” and the location as “Republic of Singapore.” On the same day, KuCoin, bitcastle LLC, Bybit, and Bitget were also warned simultaneously |
| 2025-02-07 | The Financial Services Agency requested Apple and Google to stop distributing the MEXC app to Japan in their stores (the 1 社 of simultaneous requests in 5 社). Removed from the App Store and Google Play in the middle of the same month |
| Throughout 2024 | Newly listed 2,376 issues during the year · achieved more than 3,000 万 users (company annual report) |
Policy toward Japanese residents: The company’s terms of use do not explicitly prohibit use by Japanese residents, but the Japan FSA judges that it effectively provides services to the Japanese market and has continuously issued warnings.
7. Strategic developments
- Accelerates the speed of new listings through 2024 年. Positions the advantage of “first-listing” as the axis of its marketing within the industry
- Continuous addition of new features such as copy trading and DEX+
- Since being removed from the Japan App Store in 2025 年 2 月, no official communication directed at Japan has been confirmed
- In response to Bybit‘s withdrawal from Japan (the 2026 年 policy), published content in its Japanese-language blog introducing MEXC as a candidate migration destination (2026-01-22) — however, this is MEXC’s own marketing content, and there is no published development regarding obtaining Japan FSA approval. The simultaneous warning targets also apply to KuCoin and Bitget (for background, see FSA warning-letter issuance system for unregistered foreign crypto-asset exchanges (2018-2025)).
8. Related persons
- John Chen Ju: The representative name listed in the FSA warning letter issued on 2024-11-28. Some reports say he stepped down as CEO in 2022 年 12 月, but he is still listed as the representative in the FSA document thereafter. Confirmation of details is difficult within the scope of published information
- Vugar Usi Zade: Took office as COO from 2025-12 (mentioned by multiple review media)
- Founders (joint): The names Sheen Xin Hu, Aaron Wagener, and Piotr Brzezinski appear in some sources, but official confirmation is difficult
Related
- japan-financial-regulation — Japanese financial regulation overall
- jp-foreign-exchange-bybit — Overseas exchanges that have likewise received multiple FSA warnings
- jp-foreign-exchange-kucoin — Similar unregistered overseas exchanges
- jp-foreign-exchange-bitget — Likewise warned by the FSA in 2023・2024 年
- fsa-foreign-exchange-warning-system — FSA overseas-exchange warning regime
- global-vasp-regulatory-comparison-matrix — Global VASP regulatory comparison matrix
- jp-vasp-regulatory-timeline — JP VASP regulatory timeline
Sources
- FSA crypto-asset / electronic payment instruments related page (list of warning letters) (retrieved 2026-05-19)
- Warning letter against MEXC Global (2024-11-28) PDF (retrieved 2026-05-19)
- Warning letter against MEXC Global (2023-03-31) PDF (retrieved 2026-05-19)
- FSA list of names, etc. of unregistered operators Excel (retrieved 2026-05-19)
- Atarashii Keizai “Financial Services Agency warns overseas crypto-asset exchanges operating without registration” (2024-11-28 report, retrieved 2026-05-19)
- Google search snippet: FSA on names, etc. of unregistered operators PDF (令和5年3月 version) (retrieved 2026-05-19)
- Nihon Keizai Shimbun “Financial Services Agency makes its first stop request to Apple” (2025-02-07 report, retrieved 2026-05-19)
- GlobeNewswire MEXC 2024 Annual Report (30 Million Users) (published 2025-01-20, retrieved 2026-05-19)