Earlier, Apple restricted access to the apps of non-India-based crypto exchanges from the App Store in India. Last month, Indian authorities sent notices to several cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, KuCoin, Bitstamp, MEXC Global, Bittrex and Bitfinex, to protect illegal activities in the country and competition with licensed domestic exchanges. The notice required these crypto exchanges to obtain a license to operate in the country and report on their revenues.
The Indian Finance Ministry also advised the country's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to block access to the websites of foreign exchanges.
Despite the removal of crypto exchange apps from the App Store and Google Play, existing users continued to use the apps. However, these users are likely to face a problem such as not receiving app updates. On the other hand, Binance made a statement about the app restriction and said that the funds of Indian users are safe.
India imposed a heavy tax burden of 30% on cryptocurrency trading in 2022. While this tax policy caused the trading volumes of local crypto exchanges to decrease significantly, investors turned to foreign-based cryptocurrency exchanges. Indian authorities have now started to increase their pressure on foreign exchanges to prevent this tax avoidance activity.
