ByBit announced on Thursday that it has paid a monetary penalty imposed by India’s Financial Intelligence Unit-FIU-IND. The Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange has also been cleared off the registration with FIU-IND and plans to expand initiatives focused on cryptocurrency awareness in India, including partnerships with educational institutions allowing students to play around with blockchain technologies.
Other crypto firms, like Bitget, Liminal Custody, and Binance, have also got themselves registered with the FIU-IND following the mandatory regulations which were announced in December 2023. ByBit last month had issued a notice to its Indian users, stating that its services will remain suspended until further notice after FIU-IND revealed that it was not PMLA compliant. This has led ByBit to face the penalty of ₹9.27 crore.
Indeed, Bybit explained in a statement the settlement agreement and the laying to rest of former regulatory violations. The Exchange recognized the “immense opportunity that the India market presents, its commitment towards adherence to the regulatory compliance environment – including on-going application, that was made on June 26, 2024, as a Virtual Digital Asset Service Provider – VDASP in India – and registration.”. With its registration now complete, ByBit can restart its full services in India: spot, derivatives, and options trading included.
ByBit was founded in 2018 by Ben Zhou and has over 40 million users worldwide. The nonprofit arm of the exchange, the Blockchain for Good Alliance, works to bring blockchain and cryptocurrency projects for students. BGA has already collaborated with blockchain societies at top universities like IIT Delhi and IIT Kharagpur to promote educational initiatives related to Web3 technologies.
ByBit will host a series of hackathons, workshops, and events over the coming months with top universities in the country for crypto and blockchain education. ByBit has also joined Bharat Web3 Association (BWA), an independent advisory body for the crypto sector, which was constituted earlier this year and is led by former FICCI secretary general Dilip Chenoy.
As part of the membership, ByBit will also be required to adhere to the self-regulatory code adopted for cryptocurrency firms in India including “Cybersecurity and Fair-Trading Guidelines” and token listing rules issued by the BWA in recent months.
