Binance Registers with India's Financial Intelligence Unit
Global cryptocurrency exchange Binance has registered itself as a reporting entity with the Financial Intelligence Unit India (FIU-IND). This comes over six months after the finance ministry issued a show-cause notice to Binance for non-compliance with India's anti-money laundering law.
The registration allows Binance to resume operations in India. In a statement, Binance CEO Richard Teng acknowledged the importance of the Indian market and expressed the company's commitment to aligning with Indian regulations.
Binance emphasized its robust anti-money laundering (AML) policies and controls, as well as its comprehensive framework for combating the financing of terrorism (CFT).
This development follows a fine of Rs 18.82 crore imposed on Binance by the FIU in June for operating in India without complying with domestic anti-money laundering regulations.
The finance ministry had also issued show-cause notices to nine other offshore VDA service providers, including Kucoin, Huobi, Kraken, and Gate.io. It had requested the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) to block their websites in India.
The registration of Binance comes amidst a security breach at another Indian crypto exchange, WazirX, which resulted in a theft of over $230 million. Experts have cautioned users to carefully read the terms of use before investing in unregulated sectors such as crypto.