OKX Exits India, Urges Customers To Withdraw Funds

OKX in India has announced its decision to terminate its services in the country due to major regulatory challenges it has encountered.

The cryptocurrency exchange OKX has made public its plan to terminate its operations in the Indian market. It has been about three months since the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of India’s Ministry of Finance took action against cryptocurrency exchanges, and this decision comes nearly three months after that.

OKX Shuts Down Services In India

OKX was one of the nine foreign bitcoin exchanges that received compliance letters from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). On Thursday, March 21, OKX distributed a notification to its Indian users, requesting them to close their accounts and retrieve their funds by the 30th of April.

To explain the move, the CEX described the principal reason behind the decision as local regulatory difficulties. The warning claimed, “We regret to inform you that OKX is no longer providing services to users in India.”

Customers of the crypto exchange in India received instructions to close all margin positions, perpetuals, futures, and options positions as a result.

Additionally, we strongly encouraged users to redeem funds from Grow programs like Earn, Loan, and Jumpstart before the deadline of April 30 at noon Eastern Time.

We strongly encourage users of OKX to expedite the withdrawal of their funds before the deadline to avoid any potential losses. A further benefit of using the OKX exchange is that it guarantees users that their funds will be protected and accessible until they are withdrawn.

The growing regulatory frameworks and increased enforcement efforts have led to OKX’s decision to withdraw from the Indian market. Following the January block on the exchange’s website and application, the exchange implemented a stringent Know Your Customer check process.

However, the message that OKX sent to its subscribers indicated that the exchange was unable to successfully register. Late in December 2023, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) initiated its actions against overseas cryptocurrency exchanges.

The regulatory body delivered notices to important platforms such as Binance, Coinbase, Kucoin, OKX, and Huobi, among others. By utilizing offshore organizations, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) accused these exchanges of “operating illegally” in India.

Therefore, we distributed notices in accordance with Section 13 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, enacted in 2002. As a result of this action, the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML-CFT) framework began to investigate financial institutions that provide services related to virtual digital assets.

The Federal Investigation Unit (FIU) highlighted the inability of these companies to meet their reporting requirements to the government, although they complied with Indian law. This led to the dispatch of the letters.

Further, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) requested the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) block the websites of the cryptocurrency exchanges that were alerted within two weeks.

In addition, the website URLs and mobile applications of Binance, Coinbase, OKX, KuCoin, and other cryptocurrency exchanges were restricted in January 2024.

Furthermore, the apps that used to be available for cryptocurrency exchanges have vanished from both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.