India blocks access to overseas crypto exchanges Binance, Kucoin, and more.

According to a report from the Economic Times, India has recently implemented restrictions on foreign crypto exchanges and virtual digital asset service providers, including Finance, Kucoin, and OKX. This decision was made due to the non-compliance of show-cause notices issued by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to these institutions. Earlier this week, Apple removed offshore crypto exchanges like Binance, Kucoin, and OKX from its App Store after receiving a show-cause notice from the finance ministry's FIU regarding their failure to comply with the country's money laundering laws. It is also expected that the Android versions of these apps will be taken down, as reported by National Daily. On December 28, the FIU sent notices to Binance and eight other cryptocurrency exchanges, seeking clarification on their operations in India. The FIU has expressed concerns about their involvement in illegal activities and their failure to comply with anti-money laundering laws. The FIU's notice provided a two-week deadline for these platforms to respond, which ended on Friday, January 12. Additionally, the FIU recommended that the IT Ministry block access to the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of these platforms. Further actions by the government are expected. In response to the show-cause notices from the FIU, Edul Patel, CEO of Mudrex, an Indian crypto exchange, stated that proactive measures have been taken to advise investors to transfer their funds to compliant platforms. Patel also emphasized that they provide dedicated support to ensure secure and compliant fund transfers from other exchanges. Indian investors prefer to have their assets with FIU-compliant institutions as it offers legal protection against fraudulent activities on their accounts. According to research conducted by the think tank Asia Center, global crypto exchanges are causing an annual tax leakage of Rs 3,000 crore to the central exchequer due to their lack of a registered entity in India. The blocking of access to foreign crypto platforms is expected to benefit domestic exchanges, which have experienced a significant increase in activity.