Binance Makes Comeback To India After Serving 7-month Ban

The crypto industry has become one of the world's largest money-makers, and every country wants a piece. But even as attractive as crypto companies may be to these countries, they still have to comply with laws. Binance found out the hard way and has now paid its price. 

More: Binance's India Return

Binance has been welcomed back with open arms into the Indian crypto space after the Indian government placed the service on hold for seven months due to non-compliance with local regulations.

On August 15, Binance became available again on India’s Google Playstore and Apple App Store. The service’s website also reopened on the same day. Binance announced on Thursday that it has now registered as a reporting entity with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND).

The FIU-IND is an agency tasked with scrutinizing financial transactions. India had already mandated this registration since last year. The FIU issued compliance “show causes notices” to Binance and eight other offshore crypto exchanges in December 2023. 

The notice was for Binance and its peers to comply with the provisions of the country’s Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the country’s efforts to prevent money laundering. None of the nine crypto companies notified registered with the FIU IND as required, including Binance. Sure enough, they all got banned from India’s space just like that. 

The ban included blocking the companies’ URLs and mobile apps, both Android and iOS. By April, when the ban had not ended, Binance got the message that the FIU-IND was not playing around. It then indicated its intention to pay a fine of $2.25 million for its disobedience. However, it was through an unconfirmed report.

We still don’t know if Binance actually paid that fine or not. The company made no comments on it even after it registered with the FIU-IND. The company’s post-registration statement, given by its CEO, Richard Teng, only announced India as its “19th global regulatory milestone” and that India ranks in the top five countries by estimated transaction volume, lending protocols, and token smart contracts metrics across all ecosystems.

Richard Teng’s corporate sweet-talking of the Indian government did not end there. He also added that the company’s registration with the FIU-IND “marks an important milestone in Binance’s journey. But while it may sound like just formal sweet-talking of the country, there is a lot of truth to it.

Related: India’s Crypto Ban in Apple Store

India is one of the largest markets for many industries. It recently became the most populous country on earth, and any company that can get its business running in a country with over 1.4 billion people will surely be hitting a huge milestone. 

Regardless of the reasons behind the statement, Binance has learned its lesson when it comes to complying with the FIU-IND’s rules. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a big crypto company or not; rules are rules, and no one is above the law.

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