India’s Crackdown on Crypto Exchanges: Binance, Kraken, Mexc, and Kucoin Delisted from App Store

Binance, Kraken, Mexc, and Kucoin are among the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges that have been targeted by the Indian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which has taken further measures against them by deleting their applications from the Apple App Store in India. As a result of the enactment of new taxation rules on virtual currencies in the previous year, this new development represents a major step in India’s continuing attempts to regulate the cryptocurrency business.

Late in the month of December 2023, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) issued show cause letters to nine cryptocurrency companies, stating that they had violated India’s anti-money laundering legislation. Huobi, Gate.io, Bittrex, and Bitfinex are all among the nine exchanges that have been targeted. Bitstamp is the only exchange that has been identified whose app is still active in India’s App Store.

This move by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which is a division of the Indian Ministry of Finance, is a reflection of the growing scrutiny and regulatory pressure that is being applied to the cryptocurrency business in India. The nation implemented a taxation policy in 2023, which included a thirty percent tax on earnings from cryptocurrency transactions and a one percent deduction for each transaction. As a result of the tight regulatory environment, a significant number of dealers in India have shifted their operations to worldwide cryptocurrency platforms, which seems to be an attempt to avoid paying these taxes. Despite this, cryptocurrency exchanges headquartered in India, such as CoinSwitch Kuber and CoinDCX, continue to implement stringent know-your-customer (KYC) verifications.

It has been recommended by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) restrict the URLs of these nine cryptocurrency exchanges in India. This is a key step towards putting a stop to the activities of these worldwide platforms inside the nation. This action is being taken with the intention of ensuring that these organizations conform with the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFT) framework that is stipulated under India’s Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) of 2002.

By taking these moves, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has shown India’s commitment to regulating the cryptocurrency industry and protecting its financial system from the potential hazards that are connected with uncontrolled digital assets. With the intention of delivering a strong message about its position on maintaining compliance within the cryptocurrency industry, the Indian government is targeting key businesses such as Binance and Kraken.

CoinDCX and CoinSwitch Kuber, two cryptocurrency exchanges based in India, had earlier issued a warning to the government, stating that the new tax policy might potentially push customers into decentralized exchanges or services that do not comply with the regulations. The government’s desire to manage the cryptocurrency market and prohibit any evasion of the legal framework is shown by the recent crackdown that has taken place with this intention.

It will be very important to keep a close eye on the reactions of these worldwide exchanges as the situation continues to develop, as well as the influence that this will have on the cryptocurrency market in India as a whole. There is a possibility that the hard posture taken by the Indian government might possibly transform the landscape of digital currency trading in the nation, which would have an impact on both traders and exchanges.

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