Binance to return to India after paying $2M fine to comply: Report

According to a report published by the Economic Times, the Binance crypto exchange is about to return to India after being banned for four months.

Binance becomes the second overseas exchange after KuCoin to announce its return to the country after India's financial regulator banned crypto exchanges for non-compliance.

India's Finance Ministry's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) blocked access to nine foreign crypto exchange URLs and mobile applications, including Binance, in the first week of January for violating the country's anti-money laundering laws.

Binance reportedly accounted for more than 90% of Indian crypto trading volume before it was banned in January earlier this year.

Indian users have flocked to foreign crypto exchanges like Binance to bypass heavy tax burdens, prompting the government to ban foreign exchanges that are not registered with the FIU.

Now, with FIU registration, foreign crypto exchanges like Binance have to abide by the same rules and regulations as Indian exchanges.

KuCoin has launched a 1% tax deduction at source (TDS), and other foreign crypto exchanges looking to mark their entry into India should follow suit.

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

“It took more than two years for[Binns]to realize that there was no room for negotiation, and (that) any international power, especially at the cost of risking the country's financial system,” a person familiar with the matter told the Economic Times, ET reported.

Binance has a long history in India. In the year It was believed to have acquired local crypto exchange WazirX in 2019, but later said the deal never went through.

Binance says it only provides wallet services to WazirX as a technology solution, and WazirX is responsible for all other aspects of the exchange, including user registration, Know Your Customer (KYC), trading and withdrawals.

KuCoin and Binance have decided to become FIU-registered entities in India, OKX, another leading crypto exchange among the nine banned crypto exchanges, has completely closed its operations citing the regulatory burden.

Cointelegraph reached out to Binance for comment but has yet to hear back.

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