Late last year, most of these platforms received notice of non-compliance with regulatory requirements from local regulators.
Apple has removed applications from 10 crypto exchanges from the App Store in India, CoinDesk writes. These are OKX, Binance, KuCoin, HTX (formerly Huobi), Kraken, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitstamp, MEXC Global and Bitfinex.
All of these platforms, except OKX, have received notices of non-compliance from the Indian regulator. At the end of December, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), under the Indian Ministry of Finance, issued notices to comply with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The government has also begun blocking the websites of “the specified organizations that conduct illegal activities without complying with the requirements of the law,” the publication reports. However, this process is still ongoing, which is why exchange pages still live in India. Platform applications are also currently available on Google PlayStore.
India is stepping up pressure on offshore cryptocurrency exchanges operating without local registration, asking Apple Inc. to remove platform applications, including Binance, from the local App Store, Bloomberg writes.
On December 28, India’s financial intelligence unit issued a so-called compliance notice to nine offshore platforms and also asked the information ministry to block the organizations’ URLs. The agency said that the exchanges operate illegally in India without complying with anti-money laundering laws. Of the exchanges mentioned in that statement, only Bitstamp was still available for download on the local App Store on Wednesday. Of the two versions offered by the US company Kraken, only the Pro version was available.
Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange, has come under intense pressure from regulators around the world who accuse it of serving local users without a license. India joins countries such as Belgium and Australia in trying to block the company, which says it has no global headquarters and agreed in November to pay $4.3 billion after pleading guilty in the US to anti-money laundering charges and sanctions violations. “The current situation is not unique to Binance and is impacting several other applications as well,” a Binance spokesperson said in an email. “We are working hard to formulate constructive policies that benefit all market participants.”
Local exchanges have complained that the 1% tax, known as tax deducted at source (TDS), is forcing Indian crypto traders to offshore platforms that do not charge it, further reducing their income. CoinDCX Chief Executive Sumit Gupta estimated in October that 95% of trading volume had moved to offshore venues.
