🚨🚨🚨 BIG ALERT🚨🚨
Binance, KuCoin Win Registration From India Anti-Money Laundering Regulator as Crypto Credibility Improves
KuCoin paid a fine of $41,000 and Binance's financial penalty is still to be determined after a hearing with the FIU.
The two exchanges – among nine banned in December – have become the first offshore crypto related entities be registered.
The registrations will add "little more credibility to the system," the regulator said.
Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, and rival KuCoin became the first offshore crypto-related entities be approved by India's anti-money laundering unit, months after being banned for "operating illegally."
The two have been registered with the country's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND), the most senior official of the unit, which falls under the nation's Finance Ministry, told CoinDesk. They were among more than 9 offshore entities banned – others included Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitstamp, MEXC Global and Bitfinex – at the end of last year.
The approval marks a credibility shift for crypto in the nation, said Vivek Aggarwal, who heads FIU-IND, at a meeting with several financial journalists. The unit will set up a working group with the industry to review compliance guidelines on money laundering laws for virtual digital asset service providers, he said.
“It is parliament and government as a whole,” that need to give legitimacy to the industry, he said. The registrations act to “safeguard the Indian economy. If any business is ring-fenced from being abused for financial crime then automatically it has, if not legitimacy, at least little more credibility to the system,” Aggarwal said.
Nationally, India’s position on crypto has remained slightly ambiguous.
India has kept a crypto bill in cold storage since 2021 and has indicated it will decide its position in the coming months. Previously, a senior lawmaker told CoinDesk that no bill is likely before mid-2025.
