After Govt Directive, Apple Delists Binance & Kucoin Apps From App Store

Tech giant Apple has delisted at least three offshore crypto exchanges, including Binance, Kucoin and OKX, from its India app store. 

The development was first reported by Moneycontrol. Inc42’s attempts to access the apps of the three platforms on the Apple App Store yielded no results. 

The crackdown came after the finance ministry recently issued show cause notices to nine virtual digital asset (VDA) service providers for not complying with provisions of anti-money laundering laws. 

The show cause notices were issued to the overseas platforms for not registering as reporting entities with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). Thereafter, the unit also wrote to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to block the websites of these nine entities. 

A source told Moneycontrol that the app stores began receiving blocking orders around 10 days ago, adding that the notices were issued on December 28. Apart from Binance, Kucoin and OKX, the overseas crypto platforms under the radar of the Centre include Houbi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitstamp, MEXC Global, and Bitfinex.

It is pertinent to note that it is mandatory for all onshore and offshore crypto platforms to register with the FIU as ‘reporting entities’ and comply with provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The norms dictate crypto exchanges and VDA platforms to maintain KYC details of their users as well as account files and business correspondence with clients.

Earlier last year, the government brought VDA platforms under the ambit of the PMLA. Since then, 31 platforms, including CoinDCX, WazirX, Coinswitch, and Zebpay, have registered with the FIU. 

With the new compliance mandates, the Centre aims to curb users flocking to offshore crypto platforms to avoid paying 30% tax on gains from VDAs and 1% TDS on every transaction over INR 10,000.

The heavy taxation regime has led to a slump in trading volume on crypto exchanges. On top of that, heavy compliance mandates have forced many local crypto players to change course or even shut down operations (Pillow and WeTrade) altogether. 

The calls by the top brass of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ban cryptocurrencies, terming them a threat to India’s macroeconomic stability, have only made matters worse. The collapse of giants such as FTX further dampened the sentiment and has dried up VC funding for the once sunrise sector.