- India might soon reverse its stance against foreign crypto exchanges.
- The country’s FIU banned nine overseas trading platforms in January.
- Per local reports, the FIU is reportedly reviewing registration requests from some of the banned platforms.
India’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) watchdog, the Financial Intelligence Unity (FIU), is reportedly reviewing registration requests from multiple overseas crypto exchanges seeking to operate in the country.
The development comes after the FIU in January banned and blocked access to nine crypto trading platforms’ URLs and mobile applications, citing failure to comply with India’s AML provisions. The exchanges affected by the ban included Binance and KuCoin, which have since secured new registrations with the FIU, allowing them back into the country.
India’s Plan for Foreign Crypto Exchanges
According to a local media report on September 6, the FIU is allegedly scrutinizing registration applications of four crypto exchanges previously banned in the country, with plans to clear two of them to resume operations as early as next year.
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“We have received requests from four more offshore crypto exchanges to operate in India, and we assume that at least two of them will be permitted to resume operations by end FY25. This would be after undergoing a thorough review of transaction visibility, suspicious transaction reporting (STR), and other related issues,” the report quoted a source familiar with the matter.
While the report didn’t mention the exchanges by their names, it said the FIU would only allow them back into the country after completing due diligence and facing any regulatory actions. This might include penalties and fines, similar to the actions taken with Binance and KuCoin.
The FIU lifted KuCoin’s ban in March following a penalty of $41,000. On the other hand, Binance re-entered India on August 15 after securing fresh registration with the FIU and reportedly parting with $2.1 million in fines.
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