Crypto exchange Binance confirmed that its application and several foreign-based exchange applications have been removed from Apple’s Indian App Store.
Binance South Asia said:
“We are aware of new changes that have been introduced regarding crypto exchanges on the iOS App Store in India, impacting the Binance App. The ongoing situation is not unique to Binance and we remain committed to complying with local regulations and maintaining dialogue with regulators worldwide to ensure the continued availability of our services.”
However, the firm assured its existing app users that they were unaffected and would work with the regulators to resolve the issue.
Social media reports further revealed that the other impacted exchanges include Kraken, MEXC Global, HTX (formerly Huobi), and Gate.io.
Removing these crypto-related applications from the App Store is consistent with Apple’s stringent stance on crypto. In 2022, Coinbase Wallet and Trust Wallet were both briefly unavailable in the store before being reinstated. Uniswap also reported difficulty obtaining a listing on Apple’s App Store before April 2023.
Why were they removed?
Ashish Singhal, the co-founder and chief executive of local crypto exchange platform CoinSwitch, attributed the removal to India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) show cause notice sent to several offshore crypto trading platforms last December.
At the time, the FIU cited these crypto firms’ non-compliance with the country’s Prevention of Money Laundering (PML) Act and lamented that “several offshore entities, though catering to a substantial part of Indian users, were not getting registered” under the necessary regulatory frameworks.
As such, the regulator told the Asian country’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to block these firms’ URLs.
However, Singhal advised the impacted exchanges to comply with local regulations to ensure that their Indian users are adequately protected.
“Offshore exchanges should actively consider registering with the FIU-IND and comply with India’s AML and CFT measures. This is also better for consumer protection in India since there will be greater regulatory oversight of the ecosystem,” Singhal added.
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