World’s biggest crypto exchange Binance to make India comeback

Binance, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world that was banned by the government in January this year, looks all set to restart operations in India, reportedly after paying a penalty of around $2 million.

The crypto exchange giant would return as an organisation that is registered with the finance ministry’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which monitors trade oversight of any kind as far as Virtual Digital Assets (VDA) are concerned, according to a report in The Economic Times on Thursday.

In January, Binance was banned from operating in India along with eight other cryptocurrency exchanges that use mobile apps and the internet to conduct business. The government initiated the action because these nine companies did not follow guidelines set by the FIU and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Before it was banned, almost 90 per cent of the $4-billion crypto holdings owned by Indian nationals was managed by Binance. Industry watchers have often pointed out the company’s status as the biggest player in its field is an outcome of not complying with tax laws. This, in turn, lets Binance investors trade without paying the one per cent Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) that registered exchanges charge.

Binance has now agreed to follow applicable laws including the VDA taxation framework and the PMLA, according to the report. There has, however, been no official confirmation about the crypto major paying a penalty amount of $2 million, the news report added.

According to CoinMarketCap, the total trading that the company saw in the 24-hour period ending 7 pm IST on Wednesday was $22 billion. The amount is around 25 per cent of the total global volume, and a reminder of the fact that Binance is the biggest crypto exchange in the world in terms of daily trade volume as well as asset holdings.