India has tightened restrictions on cryptocurrency-related businesses, requiring industry companies to comply with certain legal requirements. Cryptocurrency exchange OKX has decided to exit the cryptocurrency space in India due to its failure to comply with these rules. The Seychelles-based exchange informed its Indian community on March 21 that accounts on the platform should be closed by April 30. OKX entered the Indian market between August and November last year. The company has been in business since 2017 and was founded by Xu Xing.

The OKX team has issued a notification to the Indian community that the exchange is no longer providing services in India.

“In accordance with local regulations, you are required to close all margin positions, as well as positions in perpetual contracts, feature contracts, and options contracts. Redeem all funds in Grow products,” the exchange said in the notice.

Accounts held by Indians on OKX will be restricted starting April 30. While they can still withdraw funds, all other functionality will be disabled.

“Your funds will remain safe and available in your account until you withdraw them,” the exchange noted.

As of now, it is unclear whether OKX’s exit from the Indian cryptocurrency space is temporary until the company complies with the rules, or if it is a long-term exit. To ensure the safety of people participating in the cryptocurrency industry, Indian financial authorities are adding layers of regulations for industry players to comply with.

In December 2023, India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) issued show-cause notices to nine offshore companies, requiring them to produce evidence to prove that they complied with all India’s rules. These companies are: Binance, Kucoin, Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitstamp, MEXC Global and Bitfinex.

India’s Financial Intelligence Unit and the Ministry of Finance are working to ensure that all cryptocurrency-related companies comply with the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML-CFT) framework under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering (PML) Act 2023. Shortly after the announcement, the Binance and Kraken apps disappeared from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in India.

In the future, India is expected to follow the regulatory roadmap finalized by the G20 group last year and deploy more layers of rules for the cryptocurrency industry.