India takes steps to block Binance, Huobi and other international crypto exchange URLs.
India's Financial Intelligence Unit has issued compliance notices to nine foreign virtual digital asset service providers for operating illegally and violating anti-money laundering regulations.
Among the crypto service providers are international crypto exchanges Binance, KuCoin, Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitstamp, MEXC Global and Bitfinex. According to a press release issued on December 28, the unit has requested the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to block the URLs of the companies.
“So far 31 VDA SPs have been registered with FIU IND. However, several overseas entities, despite serving a large section of Indian users, were not registered and were not coming under the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorism Financing (CFT) framework,” the document said.
Digital asset providers operating in India or based offshore are subject to certain regulatory requirements, such as registering as a reporting entity with the Financial Intelligence Unit. Once registered, they have to follow the rules outlined in the Money Laundering Clause Act (PMLA), 2002. This law mandates a set of obligations designed to prevent money laundering, including Know Your Customer (KYC) onboarding customers.
India in the year It was ranked as the top country in Chinalysis' global crypto adoption index in 2022, making it the second largest market in terms of global crypto transaction volume after the United States.
Growing crypto adoption has prompted Indian regulators to take action. The country is working on a crypto regulatory framework based on the joint recommendations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB).
The Framework – Scheduled to be released in 2024 – it will include advanced KYC rules for crypto companies and require the release of real-time verification audits. It is also expected to provide a uniform tax policy under the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India and bring crypto exchanges on a par with authorized dealers (similar to banks).
