India has blocked access to a number of crypto apps in Apple App Store
India has blocked access to a number of crypto apps in Apple App Store
Indian authorities have ensured that the mobile apps of some cryptocurrency exchanges have disappeared from the Apple App Store India after the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) said they were not operating in accordance with local regulations.
In December 2023, the FIU, the Indian government agency responsible for reviewing financial transactions, sent notices to offshore licensed cryptocurrency exchanges Binance, KuCoin, Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitstamp, MEXC Global, and Bitfinex that they were operating in the country without legal grounds. The notices also claimed that these platforms did not comply with India's anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) regulations.
The notice also said, "The Director of FIU has written to the Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, requesting him to block the URLs of the said organizations which are acting illegally and not complying with the provisions of the PML Act in India."
Notably, Bitstamp remains on the App Store in India.
Although the eight mobile cryptocurrency exchange apps mentioned above have been removed from the Apple App Store, they are still available on the Google Play Store in India, and their websites continue to operate without any restrictions, CoinGape reported.
In 2022, India imposed a 30% income tax and 1% TDS (tax deducted at source on each transaction) on cryptocurrency exchanges. This caused most local traders and investors to move to offshore exchanges, and trading volume on domestic exchanges dropped by 90%.
This has significantly reduced the tax revenue flowing into India's coffers and contributed to increased scrutiny of offshore exchanges.
See also: SEC's X account hack has triggered a wave of discontent in the crypto market
