- India’s Ban on Offshore Exchanges
- India's Position in the CSAO Region
- Growth of Cryptocurrency Activity in India
India, the largest country by population, continues to lead the world in cryptocurrency adoption despite the local ban on offshore crypto exchanges, according to Chainalysis.
India’s Ban on Offshore Exchanges
In December 2023, India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) marked nine offshore exchanges as non-compliant with the country’s Anti-Money Laundering laws. These exchanges included major industry firms like Binance, HTX, Kraken, Gate.io, KuCoin, Bitstamp, MEXC, Bittrex, and Bitfinex. The FIU subsequently asked India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to block the websites of these exchanges for India-based customers. Despite the ban, the total value received by the nine blocked exchanges still accounted for a significant share of the total value received by centralized exchanges in India. According to Chainalysis data, as of April 2024, these exchanges accounted for nearly 40% of the total usage of centralized exchanges in India.
India's Position in the CSAO Region
In addition to topping global crypto adoption, India also ranked second in the Central, Southern Asia, and Oceania (CSAO) region in terms of crypto value received. According to Chainalysis, India received about $143 billion in crypto from July 2023 to June 2024, second only to Indonesia, which received $157 billion. Crypto asset inflows in CSAO totaled $750 billion over the past year, representing 16.6% of the global value received.
Growth of Cryptocurrency Activity in India
Chainalysis insights indicate that the ban on offshore exchanges in India hasn’t greatly affected their usage, as local users were still able to access them through downloaded apps or certain trading apps that were still accessible. Since late 2023, when the exchanges were banned, India’s FIU has softened its stance, registering KuCoin and Binance after collecting fines in May 2024. In early September, local reports suggested that the FIU was planning to approve two additional offshore exchanges to restart operations in India.
India continues to demonstrate high levels of cryptocurrency activity despite bans and restrictions. Current data and statistics indicate that the cryptocurrency market in the country remains dynamic and significant.
