Binance resumes its services in India following a seven-month regulatory suspension
The exchange announced Thursday that it had registered as a reporting agency with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit, a government body tasked to scrutinize financial transactions. The FIU recommended that India block nearly a dozen crypto exchange services including Binance. Kraken, Kucoin, and Mexc. The FIU said offshore exchanges needed to register locally to comply with the country’s anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism framework.
FIU’s move followed a group of local crypto exchanges complaining to the Indian Ministry of Finance that they were losing business to noncompliant foreign crypto exchanges.
Binance’s website and mobile apps have become operational again in India. Binance announced that it has reached its 19th milestone of regulatory compliance. This alignment with Indian regulations, which recognizes the vitality and the potential of the Indian VDA Market, allows us to tailor services to Indian users. It is a privilege to extend the reach of our cutting-edge platform to this thriving market, supporting India’s continued VDA evolution.”
Despite India’s status as a crucial overseas nation for global tech behemoths, its cryptocurrency market remains relatively underdeveloped. Over the past five years, the Reserve Bank of India has exerted significant pressure on banks to distance themselves from cryptocurrency firms, while the government’s implementation of stringent tax policies has considerably diminished local enthusiasm for digital assets.
Coinbase stopped signing up customers from India in 2023 after facing what it described as informal pressure from the Indian central bank. These regulatory and fiscal barriers have stunted India’s growing crypto ecosystem. Nearly half of WazirX’s reserves were lost in a recent hack, which affected a local exchange that was once a Binance partner. This is another blow to the local entrepreneurs who are trying to promote a crypto-friendly regulatory climate.
