The Indian App Store No Longer Has Binance Available
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Major cryptocurrency exchanges including Binance, Kraken, OKX, and KuCoin have had their apps removed by Apple from the Indian App Store.
India stepped up its crackdown on offshore crypto exchanges operating without local registrations, asking Apple Inc. to take the apps of platforms including Binance off its App Store in the country.
Apple Removes Crypto Exchanges
Apple recently took down the apps from nine significant cryptocurrency exchanges from its App Store in India, including market leaders like Binance and Kraken. This move comes after these exchanges received warnings for suspected non-compliance with India's anti-money laundering regulations from the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND), a government entity in charge of monitoring financial transactions.
Government Repression
Concerns over the legitimacy of these exchanges' activities in India were voiced by FIU-IND late last month. Nine cryptocurrency exchanges—Binance, Kucoin, Houbi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitstamp, MEXC Global, and Bitfinex—received show cause warnings on December 28. Their alleged noncompliance with local tax legislation and lack of registration was the main point of contention.
Apple's Quick Reaction
In response to the regulatory alerts, Apple moved quickly to remove these exchanges' apps from the Indian App Store. The apps are no longer available for download to new users, however Indian users who had previously installed them can still access and utilize them on their iPhones.
The exchanges' websites are still reachable, and the applications are still available in India's Google Play Store. However, considering the identical regulatory concerns expressed by FIU-IND, there is conjecture that Google would follow Apple's example and take these apps down from the Play Store.
Regulators Are Watchful of Offshore Exchanges
The topic of offshore exchanges functioning in India without registration came up in the first part of December at a Lok Sabha meeting. In retaliation, the finance ministry published a list of 28 cryptocurrency and virtual digital asset (VDA) platforms that have registered and complied with PMLA (prevention of money laundering and combating funding of terrorism) rules. Notices to show cause were subsequently sent to significant offshore platforms, including as Kraken and Binance.
Indian Merchants Flood International Marketplaces
Many Indian dealers have moved to international cryptocurrency platforms amid regulatory tightening, maybe as a tax avoidance tactic. Last year, India introduced bitcoin taxes, deducting 1% of each cryptocurrency transaction and taxing earnings at a rate of 30%. While exchanges in India maintain stringent know-your-customer procedures, international platforms have not followed suit.
Stated differently, Apple's decision to remove cryptocurrency exchange applications from its App Store in India, along with a stringent tax framework, is indicative of the growing regulatory scrutiny and difficulties the country's cryptocurrency business faces.
