Bitfinex, HTX and Kucoin are among eight exchanges whose apps are no longer available on the App Store in India. The move marks a significant escalation of India’s crackdown on offshore crypto platforms, which started on Dec 28 when authorities notified nine exchanges that they were suspected of misconduct. Indian crypto traders had already began moving deposits to local exchanges that abide by the country’s regulations, fearful of losing access to their funds. In 2022, authorities delivered a major blow to local crypto exchanges by introducing a tax on transactions that caused trading volumes to plummet. Local exchanges had complained that the 1% levy drove Indian crypto traders to offshore platforms that did not impose it, further hurting their revenues.

Source: Bangkok Post January 10, 2024 20:58 UTC