Apple has reportedly booted several crypto exchanges from its app store in India amid allegations that most of these platforms are operating illegally in the country.
TechCrunch reports that the apps from Binance, Kraken, Huobi, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitfinex and OKX are no longer accessible on Apple’s Indian app store, although customers who already have them installed on their devices can still use them.
The development comes after the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) accused Binance, KuCoin, Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitstamp, MEXCGlobal and Bitfinex of violating the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 (PMLA). The agency has also asked the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to block the websites of these entities.
All Virtual Digital Asset Service Providers (VDA SPs) operating in India are required to register with the FIU, but the agency say several offshore companies did not meet the requirement.
“So far, 31 VDA SPs have registered with the FIU IND. However, several offshore entities, while targeting a substantial portion of Indian users, were not registered and fell under the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) frameworks.
The affected apps are still available on the Google Play Store in India and the websites can still be accessed in the country.
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