Crypto exchange Bybit has announced that its temporarily halting its services in India amid crypto regulation and compliance issues.
The exchange will suspend all products and services as from January 12, 2025 at 8:00 am UTC, an update published on Jan 10 noted.
“At Bybit, our primary objective has always been to operate in full compliance with all applicable rules and regulations. Due to recent developments from Indian regulators and in continuation of previously implemented restrictions, we regret to inform you that, effective Jan 12, 2025, 8AM UTC,” Bybit wrote.
P2P trading and Bybit Card also restricted
The temporary restriction to the exchange’s services and products mean users in India will not be able to open new trades.
Disabled services include crypto and fiat deposits and trading, while open derivatives positions will change to close-only mode. As such, users cannot add to positions or modify, but will still be able to close them.
The exchange will also halt access to master-follower relationships in its copy trading & trading bots section, with these cancelled or terminated on January 13, 2025.
Also set for a temporary halt as the company sorts through the regulatory hurdle are peer-to-peer Indian rupee ads, campaign participation and the Bybit Card.
However, Indian users on the Bybit platform will have access to withdrawals, with the exchange noting that this measure is meant to allow for users’ convenience.
When does Bybit resume services in India?
Bybit’s crypto regulatory issues in India follow the FIU’s crackdown on exchanges and trading platforms.
The agency banned apps of multiple crypto companies in December 2023, with fresh registration seeing Binance pay a fine before making a re-entry.
In August last year, Bybit announced it was exiting France amid regulatory compliance issues.
It expects to resume operations once it secures the necessary approvals. Malaysia also asked Bybit to halt services in late December.
Notably, the exchange says it expects to resume services in India within “coming weeks.”
“We have taken this measure while we continue to work closely with the regulator to finalize our registration as a Virtual Digital Asset Service Provider in India, which we expect to secure in the coming weeks,” the exchange notified its customers.
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