Crypto Platform Bybit Suspends Services In India

Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has announced a temporary restriction on its services for Indian users, effective Sunday (January 12). 

“Due to recent developments from Indian regulators and in continuation of previously implemented restrictions, we regret to inform you that, effective Jan 12, 2025, 8AM UTC, Indian users will temporarily be unable to open new trades or access any products on the Bybit platform,” the company said in an email sent to the users.

According to the company, the Indian users will no longer be able to open new trades or access Bybit’s range of products and services, including crypto and fiat trading, copy trading, trading bots, and P2P ads. 

However, withdrawals will remain unaffected, ensuring users retain access to their funds.

Key changes outlined in the announcement include:

• Trading Restrictions: No new orders can be placed for any trading products. Existing derivatives positions will be set to close-only mode, allowing users to manage only the closing of these positions. Deposits for both crypto and fiat currencies will also be temporarily halted.

• Copy Trading and Bots: All master-follower relationships and trading bots will be terminated by January 13, 2025 UTC.

• P2P Ads: All INR-related ads will be removed by January 12.

• Bybit Card Transactions: All transactions using Bybit cards will be restricted.

The company said that the restriction of services is a temporary measure as the platform works to secure its registration as a virtual digital asset (VDA) service provider with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). 

The company expects to finalise this process in the coming weeks and resume full operations shortly thereafter.

“We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and sincerely appreciate your understanding,” said Bybit. “We are committed to resuming full service as soon as we have completed our registration process with the FIU.”

Notably, FIU oversees trade in VDA and ensures compliance with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the VDA taxation framework. Under the current laws, all crypto platforms have to mandatorily register as reporting entities to offer crypto trading services in India.

In 2023, the finance ministry issued notices to nine overseas crypto platforms for neither registering as a reporting entity nor complying with provisions of the PMLA. 

Subsequently, the FIU wrote to the electronics and IT ministry (MeitY) to block their websites and all these nine platforms disappeared from India overnight.

Eventually, Binance, which was also banned, paid a fine of INR 18 Cr in 2024 and agreed to comply with local norms before resuming operations in India.