Binance has received FIU approval for its return to India

Global cryptocurrency exchange Binance has received permission from India's financial regulator, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), to offer its services in India.

The latest approval makes Binance the second offshore crypto exchange to acquire a regulatory node after KuCoin.

According to a report published in CoinDesk, Vivek Agarwal, head of FIU, Binance is now a registered entity.

Binance and KuCoin were among nearly a dozen foreign crypto exchanges that received non-compliance notices in December 2023. Within 15 days of the announcement, India's finance ministry told its IT department to block URLs and mobile apps from accessing crypto platforms banned in India. By mid-January 2024.

Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitstamp, MEXC Global, and Bitfinex also received the regulatory notice.

Following the ban, several crypto platforms started working with the Indian regulatory body to achieve FIU compliance and provide their services to Indian customers. While KuCoin and Binance managed to find a way back, the likes of OKX and BitStamp shut down their services in the country.

Although the FIU registration reports were released today, Cointelegraph reported in the third week of April that Binance may return to India after paying a $2 million fine for compliance.

Related: Taxman: India's new tax policies could be deadly for crypto industry

After India imposed a high 30% tax on crypto profits and a 1% tax deduction on every crypto transaction, many Indian investors fled to foreign crypto exchanges to bypass the tax regime. At its peak, Binance reportedly accounted for 90% of India's total trading volume.

Despite having a thriving crypto market, with most of the major crypto exchanges looking to establish a foothold in the country, India has remained cold on the crypto heat map due to tax burdens and lack of regulatory transparency. Many crypto traders and crypto-focused businesses have moved overseas, while some crypto exchanges continue to struggle to gain investor confidence due to a lack of banking facilities.

Cointelegraph reached out to Binance and FIU for comments but had yet to receive a response at press time.

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