Vishal Sacheendran, Head of Regional Markets at Binance, revealed that the company was not allowed to add more users in India after the ban that lasted till August 2024. Once the company tweaked their KYC structure in accordance with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), operations have become smoother.
In an interview with a local media outlet on 10 February 2025, Sacheendran said that India is a key market in Binance’s gameplan, and the company has no intention of leaving the country.
In December 2023, authorities in India found the company to be unregistered with the FIU, eventually leading to the blocking of Binance URL and apps on Android and Apple store.
Since Binance’s re-entry in India after registering with the FIU, Sacheendran says, they user confidence has grown in the company.
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Indian Government Has Never Blocked Regulatory Discussions
Sacheendran says that India deeply understands innovation and was one of the first countries to embrace the fintech boom. The Indian government although not shy of innovation had to grasp the nuanced nature of the crypto industry before letting investors explore this sector.
Talking about Indian crypto market’s growth, he said, “We’re seeing a huge uptick in institutional enquiries.”
“And we’re seeing a different uptick in institutional operating accounts where they want to hold on to crypto,” he added. “They want to make an investment, maybe as a fund manager, or an asset manager.”
He says that there is a huge talent pool in India, with a surging deeptech infrastructure. There is a lot of room for growth, and he believes that the Indian government so far has taken steps in the right direction.
Jetking Becomes First Indian Corporation to Adopt Bitcoin Standard#Jetking becomes #India’s first corporation to adopt the #Bitcoin Standard, influencing #market trends and corporate finance strategies.https://t.co/FU7kSfHD7G
— Cryptofrontnews (@CryptoFront_CFN) February 10, 2025
Although happy with the progress India is making in the crypto space, Sacheendran, weighs in on the recently announced budget for the year 2025, and says that there is still a lot of room for improvement.
“Not Looking To Buy WazirX”
Talking about the notorious WazirX hack, he explained that growth of crypto in India hasn’t slowed much since the hack. On the contrary, it has grown in line with the global numbers. There is a huge uptick in institutional enquiries and operating accounts that want to hold on to crypto. This growth is visible not just in India but globally as well.
However, a Binance takeover of WazirX is highly unlikely. Meanwhile, CoinDCX’s Sumit Gupta remains “open to the idea” of taking over WazirX.
Crypto is a nuanced and young industry and India is a country with a young population and high internet penetration. With India ranking on top when it comes to crypto adoption, he thinks the government will have to work with the industry to grow the crypto sector. If appetite for crypto is not grown soon, the country might lose its adoption lead.
Sacheendran says that crypto exchanges and related firms in India are waiting for the crypto discussion paper to come out. He suggests developing a comprehensive framework that is agile and allows patching in any new innovation on the fly.
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Impact of US Elections on the Global Crypto Markets
Sacheendran believes that the US elections had a positive impact on the outlook of cryptocurrency worldwide. Some countries were already open to the concept, with global and local players regulated as per the country’s licensing and regulation norms.
Other countries had initiated their crypto framework development like Europe’s MiCA and there were countries like India who took a cautious approach and wanted to see steps taken by the United States in this sector first.
With US all in on crypto, Sacheendran believes that a lot more countries will embrace the industry. He acknowledges that many countries might end up taking a page out of US’s regulations around crypto. All in all, the outcome for the crypto industry post US elections has been good for investors.
With crypto gradually integrating into the financial global fabric, Sacheendran believes that regulators granted the industry its legitimacy when they approved Bitcoin ETFs. This move brought institutional investors into the fold.
He says that earlier on, crypto was all about retail investments. However, with the approval of spot ETFs, cryptos like Bitcoin have become an asset class, ripe for investments from investors with a more risk-taking appetite.
This contributed to an increased growth spurt that the industry saw from March last year, 2024.
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The post Binance Says Exiting India Was Never An Option, Sees Increased Institutional Queries Since India Re-entry appeared first on 99Bitcoins.
