India to block 9 crypto exchanges, including Binance and Kraken

At Indiathe Financial Intelligence Unit asked the government from block l’access to several large offshore cryptocurrency exchange platforms which operate illegally in the country.

In a statement released on Thursday, the Financial Intelligence Unit India said that major crypto-exchanges were offering services in India without first complying with the new anti-money laundering directives.

Several offshore entities, although catering to a substantial portion of Indian users, were not registered and did not fall under the anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) framework,” wrote the FIU IND.

The Indian watchdog has issued warnings to 9 platforms including Binance, Bitfinex, Gate.io, KuCoin, Bittrex, MEXC, Huobi (HTX), Kraken and Bitstamp. It has also filed a request with the country’s Ministry of Technology and Information to block access to the websites of the entities concerned.

In India, since March 2023, digital asset service providers must register with the FIU IND and comply with all the obligations imposed by the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002.

The obligation is based on activity and does not depend on physical presence in India,” the organization reminds us, pointing out that 31 crypto companies had registered today.

Following the introduction of a crypto-trading tax in early 2022, a large number of Indian investors have abandoned local platforms, such as CoinDCX and WazirX, for offshore services. Indeed, Indian exchanges have seen a sharp drop in trading volume following the implementation of this new tax.

This autumn, after the G20 meeting in New Delhi, India indicated that it would discuss with other states how best to regulate this nascent sector.

To keep abreast of the latest Crypto and Web3 news, click here. Coins.fr on TwitterLinkedin, Google, Facebook and Telegram