Binance, KuCoin, Other Exchanges, Served Notice by Indian Government Removed From Apple’s App Store

Apple has removed Binance, KuCoin and other offshore cryptocurrency exchanges from its India app store days after nine entities were sent compliance show cause notices by the nation's government.

OKX, another prominent offshore cryptocurrency exchange, has also been removed from the Apple India app store even though it wasn’t sent a show cause notice. Binance, KuCoin, Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitstamp, MEXC Global and Bitfinex are the nine exchanges that were sent notices.

On Dec. 28, India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) which falls under the nation’s Finance Ministry, issued compliance show cause notices under its Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The government also took the first steps to block the URLs of "said entities that are operating illegally without complying.

However, that process requires extensive paperwork and is still ongoing, which is why the URLs are still working in India for these exchanges, a person familiar with the matter told CoinDesk. The Indian government may also want to wait for the entities to respond to the notices before taking further action, the person said.

The apps continue to show on Google PlayStore.

Existing app users will not be affected, and Binance will continue to work with regulators to resolve the situation, the company said following the publication of this article.

"The ongoing situation is not unique to #Binance and we remain committed to complying with local regulations and maintaining dialogue with regulators worldwide to ensure the continued availability of our services," a post on Binance South Asia's X (formerly Twitter) account said.

Apple India and the FIU could not be reached immediately for comment.

Read More: India Won't See Crypto or Web3 Bill for Another 18 Months, Senior Lawmaker Tells CoinDesk

UPDATE (Jan. 10, 14:57 UTC): Adds X post by Binance to the penultimate paragraph.