Tech
Cryptocurrency Exchange OKX Ceases Services in India; KuCoin becomes FIU compliant
Updated at 12.16am IST, March 23: KuCoin said it has become the first global cryptocurrency exchange to comply with the Indian FIU. KuCoin said it will support local banks in India and other fiat entities and invest in market education about the potential of cryptocurrencies.
“This is not only a milestone for KuCoin, but a huge step forward for the Indian cryptocurrency market and the global cryptocurrency industry,” it said in a statement. “It symbolizes our dedication to expanding our global presence and our commitment to the Indian market, where the potential for cryptocurrencies is immense and the future looks bright.”
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Cryptocurrency exchange OKX will stop services for users in India, it said in an email to customers on Thursday, advising them to withdraw their funds by the end of April.
The move follows Apple and Google pulling OKX’s namesake app in the country after an Indian government agency said many cryptocurrency exchanges were operating illegally in the South Asian market.
The Financial Intelligence Unit, the government agency, cited Binance, Kraken, Huobi and Gate.io among the apps operating “illegally” in India but did not name OKX in its list public statement.
OKX has advised customers in India to close all their active margin positions and withdraw all funds by April 30. The cryptocurrency exchange cited “local regulations” for its action. An OKX spokesperson said the company’s web3 DeFi services will remain available to customers in India.
“We recently emailed customers in India who had historical CeFi accounts on OKX and are helping them close those accounts,” an OKX spokesperson said in a statement. “While we will eliminate these clients, their assets will remain safe on the OKX platform. This decision was made in response to recent local regulations targeting offshore exchanges making CeFi trading available in India. OKX’s DeFi Web3 services remain available to developers and creators in India.”
Cryptocurrencies were introduced under the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing framework in India in March last year. Dozens of companies, including local exchanges CoinSwitch and CoinDCX, had registered with the FIU, but several international exchanges continued to fail to comply with the law, the FIU said late last year.
Several traders in India had it have flocked to global cryptocurrency platforms in an apparent move to evade taxes. India began taxing virtual currencies in 2022, imposing a 30% tax on earnings and a 1% deduction on every crypto transaction.
While India-based cryptocurrency exchanges continued to require rigorous customer knowledge checks before welcoming new users, the same is not true for many global platforms. Coinbase has stopped enroll consumers in India last year.