Panic Grips Crypto Exchanges India Govt Blocks Binance Kucoin

• Crypto exchanges in India are currently in panic and crisis after the Indian government blocked Binance, Kucoin, Huobi, and Kraken.
• Indian crypto exchanges have reportedly convened for emergency meetings. 
• These exchanges heavily rely on Binance for liquidity, creating a tight situation.

Prominent crypto exchanges in India have reportedly convened for emergency meetings. This comes amid recent developments in the Indian crypto space, where the government has moved to block URLs associated with offshore exchanges.

The founder of the crypto-focused platform SmartViewAi, Pushpendra Singh, took to X to draw public attention to the development. 

All Indian crypto major exchanges are doing Emergency meeting. – ( सूत्रों के हवाले से खबर)

India exchanges using binance orderbook. If Binance Internal API will block Indian exchanges will suffer temporarily.

Mostly Indian exchanges are tightly coupled with Binance and using…

— Pushpendra Singh (@pushpendrakum) December 29, 2023

The meetings likely seek to address the potential repercussions of the government’s decision to frustrate local exchanges’ access to global crypto trading platforms. 

Singh shared details about how the government decision impacts India-based crypto trading platforms amid their close ties with prominent overseas exchanges like Binance. 

In particular, Singh highlighted that Indian exchanges largely rely on Binance order books to match crypto transactions. 

He expressed concern over the possible disruption that could ensue if Binance’s internal API is indeed blocked for Indian exchanges.

Additionally, he noted that many Indian platforms heavily rely on Binance for liquidity, creating a tight coupling that could lead to challenges for the local crypto ecosystem. 

See Also: India Tightens Its Regulatory Measures Against Virtual Digital Asset Service Providers (VDA SPs)

Singh’s SmartViewAi also finds itself interconnected with Binance through multiple application programming interfaces (APIs).

In a press statement on Thursday, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), operating under the Indian Finance Ministry, issued a “show cause notice” to nine offshore crypto exchanges. It alleged the platforms of non-compliance with Indian anti-money laundering laws. 

As a result, the FIU urged the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to block the URLs of the identified exchanges. 

The list of exchanges facing the show cause notice includes Binance, Kucoin, Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitstamp, MEXC Global, and Bitfenex. 

According to the FIU, these exchanges have been operating in India without adhering to the necessary regulatory frameworks, marking their activities as illegal.