What happened?
India’s Financial Intelligence Unit issued notices to 25 crypto exchanges for breaching anti‑money‑laundering rules and ordered those platforms to pull their apps and websites from public access in India. These platforms include names like Huione, BingX, Paxful, LBank, CoinW and ProBit Global, and together they custody billions in user assets. CoinMarketCap data show 14 of the affected exchanges generated over $22 billion in trading volume in the past 24 hours, highlighting the scale of the action.
Who does this affect?
This hits Indian users who trade on those offshore platforms and could disrupt anyone with crypto held on the affected exchanges, as well as the exchanges’ employees and compliance teams. It also pressures global exchanges that want to serve India: some will register with FIU‑IND and pay fines to resume access (like Bybit did), while unregistered platforms may be forced out. More broadly, the move affects institutional traders, payment processors, and tax authorities tracking cross‑border crypto flows.
Why does this matter?
Market‑wise, pulling major offshore platforms and tougher AML enforcement will likely reduce liquidity and could increase price volatility for Indian traders in the short term. Higher compliance costs, strict taxes (30% on profits, 1% TDS, new 18% GST on trading fees) and automatic reporting under CARF mean some exchanges may exit while others consolidate, fragmenting the market and raising trading costs. In the long run this could shrink informal offshore trading, push more turnover onto registered venues, and improve transparency — but at the cost of lower volumes and higher friction for Indian crypto users.