After a seven-month hiatus imposed by a local authority, Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has resumed operations for users in India. The exchange had been accused of operating “illegally” in the country.
On Thursday, the exchange announced that it has officially become a reporting entity with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), a government agency responsible for closely examining financial transactions.
FIU decision about Binance
Last year, at the recommendation of the FIU, India decided to block several foreign crypto exchange services, such as Binance, Kraken, Kucoin, and Mexc. The FIU emphasised the importance of offshore exchanges registering locally in order to adhere to the country’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism framework. 
FIU’s decision came after a group of local crypto exchanges expressed their concerns to the Indian Ministry of Finance about losing business to noncompliant foreign crypto exchanges.
Binance’s website and mobile apps are now up and running in India. Binance announced that it has achieved another regulatory milestone with its compliance with the Indian authority, bringing the total number of milestones to 19.
“The registration with the FIU-IND is a significant achievement for Binance,” stated Richard Teng, the CEO of Binance.
Understanding the importance and possibilities of the Indian VDA market, this collaboration with Indian regulations enables us to customise our services to meet the requirements of Indian users. It is an honour to expand the reach of our innovative platform to this flourishing market, contributing to India’s ongoing VDA development.”
Although India is an important country for global tech giants, its cryptocurrency market is still relatively underdeveloped. In the last five years, the Reserve Bank of India has been actively pushing banks to dissociate from cryptocurrency firms. Additionally, the government’s strict tax policies have dampened local interest in digital assets.
In 2023, Coinbase made the decision to halt customer sign-ups from India due to what it referred to as informal pressure from the Indian central bank.
Regulatory and financial barriers have significantly impeded the expansion of India’s crypto ecosystem. The recent hack at WazirX, a local exchange and estranged Binance partner, dealt a major blow to the efforts of local entrepreneurs who are pushing for a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment in the country. Nearly half of WazirX’s reserves were lost in the incident, further highlighting the challenges they face.
