💸 Bybit’s Mega Fine: Crypto’s Pricey Path to India’s Heart 💸

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  • Bybit shells out a fortune to Indian FIU, compliance’s costly kiss.
  • Full license on the horizon, a regulatory rainbow after the storm.

Bybit, the cryptocurrency colossus, has at last embraced the regulatory embrace of India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), its coffers lighter by a cool million. In a grand gesture of contrition, the exchange doled out 9.27 crores INR—because compliance, it seems, does not come cheap.

CEO Ben Zhou, in a moment of candid clarity, declared this a triumph for Indian users. Yet, it was a victory won on the battlefield of regulatory skirmishes. Once a paragon of crypto trading, Bybit’s Indian operations hit a snag in January 2025—services suspended, a regulatory ghost haunting its digital corridors. Funds were accessible, but new trades remained elusive, like a crypto carrot just out of reach.

The fine was a stern lesson in the rules of Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism—India’s 2023 wake-up call. Bybit’s websites faced a digital blockade, a prohibition on par with the Great Wall. But with the penalty settled, registration was achieved, and compliance drew a little closer.

In the coming weeks, Bybit will, at long last, clutch the golden ticket: a full operations license in India. Compliance’s endgame approaches, and the exchange can breathe a sigh of relief—its regulatory woes, a thing of the past.

This comes as the Indian government tightens its regulatory noose, compelling offshore platforms to register with FIU. Exchanges like Binance, KuCoin, and Kraken felt the regulatory whip in early 2023—a stark reminder that in India, compliance is king.

Bybit’s application for the Virtual Digital Asset Service Provider license, submitted in July 2024, still hangs in the balance. But with these registrations, the path ahead is clear. In India, compliance is not just a checkbox—it’s the gateway to the crypto promised land.

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2025-02-06 16:48