Leading crypto exchange Bybit announces temporary suspension of operations in India, allowing only withdrawals as it works to secure registration as a VDA provider.
Leading digital asset trading platform Bybit has announced that it is temporarily ending its operations in the country with the second-largest number of internet users, India. The customers in the region will be banned from opening a new account or trading or accessing any service provided by the cryptocurrency exchange starting January 12th at 8 AM UTC.
According to the official announcement from Bybit, the decision has been taken to comply with the policies and rules established by the regional regulators. Also, the only service that will remain active for Indian users will be withdrawals for the “convenience” of the customers.
All Services on Bybit Now Closed for Indian Users
It is important to note that services including fiat trading, copy trading, trading bots, and P2P will be accessible, while derivatives positions will only have the option to “close only.” Also, all transactions will be restricted on the Bybit card, while crypto and fiat deposits will face the same fate.
Bybit has stated that this is just a temporary hurdle and confirmed that it is working with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to secure its registration as a virtual digital asset service provider. Bybit aims to smoothly complete the process of registration with local authorities and resume operations in the coming weeks.
“We have taken this measure while we continue to work closely with the regulator to finalize our registration as a Virtual Digital Asset Service Provider in India, which we expect to secure in the coming weeks,” Bybit said.
As reported earlier by Coinspeaker, Bybit also terminated its withdrawal and deposit services for all French users on January 8th. The firm failed to get it registered as a Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) with the regional regulators.
Other Exchanges Face a Similar Situation
Bybit’s temporary halt comes not long after the authorities restricted access to nine crypto exchanges in 2023 while asking the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) to block their websites. The nine platforms were Kucoin, Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitstamp, MEXC Global, and Bitfinex.
Binance, the world’s largest digital asset trading platform, received a show-cause notice from the finance ministry for not complying with the country’s anti-money laundering laws. As a result, by August 2024, the centralized exchange registered itself as a reporting entity with the Financial Intelligence Unit India (FIU-IND), as per a local report.
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