Coinspeaker
Crypto Exchange Bitget Looks to Expand to India as Regulated Platform
Bitget, a well-known crypto derivatives exchange, is planning to expand its operations into India, one of the world’s most populous nations, in compliance with the country’s regulatory requirements. In a lengthy post on X, the company’s head of global communications, Simran Alphonso, said the firm is in talks with Indian regulators to acquire an operational license to enable it to legally serve its customers in the region.
Regulatory Pursuit in India
Alphonso revealed the company sees India as an important market for its business offerings and is currently pursuing a regulatory license to serve as a compliant platform for crypto trading.
“India is a high-priority market for Bitget. We’re actively navigating through regulations to make sure the platform is compliant for us to serve our users in India,” she wrote on X.
Bitget also described the nation as a “playground for blockchain and crypto”, noting that it has contributed significantly to the growth of the industry thanks to its massive population and highly skilled talent.
In 2022, India emerged as one of the leading countries with the highest adoption rate for cryptocurrencies. According to data from blockchain analytics company Chainalysis, the nation ranked second after the United States in terms of global transaction volume.
Global Compliance Efforts
Bitget said its pursuit of operational licenses in jurisdictions with clear regulatory frameworks has awarded it two licenses outside of India. The firm has received regulatory approval from financial regulators in both Poland and Lithuania to serve as a virtual asset service provider (VASP) within the European nations.
The exchange has now set its sights on the Indian market and plans to provide more updates regarding its progress in the coming weeks. However, it is important to note that Biget currently offers crypto trading services to Indian users. According to the company’s website, the exchange is legally registered in the country.
Bitget began servicing Indian users in April 2022 when the country newly introduced its crypto taxation law that requires traders to report 30% of their earnings to the nation’s Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
During that time, the government allowed offshore crypto service providers to operate in compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFT) laws within the nation.
Compliance Challenges and Setbacks
However, the regulatory landscape changed for crypto exchanges when the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) discovered that some of the offshore companies had failed to comply with the AML/CDT rules while still catering to their customers in the country.
In December 2023, the regulator demanded that the nation’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ban the URLs of nine crypto exchanges operating within the country, forcing them to close their businesses. These non-compliant exchanges included Binance, KuCoin, Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitstamp, MEXC Global, and Bitfinex. The country now imposed stringent regulations, demanding the exchanges to register with FIU before operating within the nation.
In April 2024, Binance reportedly paid a fine of $2.2 million to the country’s financial regulator to enable the company to return to the Indian market as a regulated exchange.
Crypto Exchange Bitget Looks to Expand to India as Regulated Platform
