Bybit temporary restriction of services in India

[Oshosondy]

Bybit is stopping its crypto products and services in India due to regulatory pressure. Only withdrawal will not be affected. It would be in effect from effective Jan 12, 2025, 8AM UTC.

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, Indian users will temporarily be unable to open new trades or access any products on the Bybit platform. The only exception will be withdrawals, which will remain available for your convenience.


Please note the following:


All products and services: No new orders can be placed for any trading products, both crypto and fiat. For any existing derivatives position, it will be placed in Close-Only mode. This means you will not be able to add to or modify these positions, but you can still manage closing positions. Crypto and Fiat deposits will also be temporarily restricted. Withdrawals are not affected.


Copy Trading & Trading Bots: Due to the nature of the product, any master-follower relationships will be cancelled and/or any trading bots terminated on Jan 13, 2025 before 5AM UTC.


P2P Ads: All INR ads will be removed on Jan 12, 2025, 8AM UTC.

[Maslate]

I’ve heard about rumor before, but now it’s their official announcement. Maybe they weren’t able to comply with the requirements, or they were working on it but missed the deadline. Since it’s stated as temporary, they seem confident they’ll resume operations. However, they’re still lose a big income because India is such a big market, especially with its huge population.

[Z-tight]

I don't think Bybit has any plan to register and get the necessary license to operate it India, i guess they are gone for good, because if they had plans to return, they would have indicated it in their message to their customers.

Binance was banned from operating in India, but they later registered with the fiu-ind and now they are legally allowed to offer their services to customers in India. I believe the conditions were not right for Bybit, their customers will have to move over to other available services.

[Odusko]

I don't think Bybit has any plan to register and get the necessary license to operate it India, i guess they are gone for good, because if they had plans to return, they would have indicated it in their message to their customers.

Binance was banned from operating in India, but they later registered with the fiu-ind and now they are legally allowed to offer their services to customers in India. I believe the conditions were not right for Bybit, their customers will have to move over to other available services.

I don't know how regulatory procedures for getting a cryptocurrency exchange license are in India but I must say that it going to be a tough battle getting such a license in a country that is somewhat hostile to cryptocurrency like India, most countries including my country have an almost impossible to meet regulatory demands for operating a license cryptocurrency exchange and the fee place on that license is too high that it discourages both the new and old exchanges operating within the country and some of them like Kucoin were forced to leave the cryptocurrency market in Nigeria, so I believe similar to what is happening with by bybit in India is what we have in other anti crypto countries around the world.

[Potato Chips]

Because the restriction of Malaysian folks in bybit just happened recently, too, I couldn't help but compare.

It's interesting how there's a proper public announcement for India restriction. On the other hand, I couldn't find anything about Malaysia from bybit's official handles when I tried to look it up few days ago—lmk if I missed it though.

It does look like bybit is restricting Malaysia residents from their end. I tried to sign up for an account using Malaysia IP:



I wonder if this hints on their future endeavor or something—it does state temporary in India's announcement. Or is India just taken more seriously? 🤔

Would appreciate some insights.

[Darker45]

I wonder if this hints on their future endeavor or something—it does state temporary in India's announcement. Or is India just taken more seriously? 🤔

I most certainly think so. You can't just waste such huge market. India may not be that friendly toward crypto, but it's certainly worth fighting for. Obtaining a license in a country of 1.4 billion people must be worth all the hassles, inconvenience, high cost, knee-bending, perhaps even ass-kissing and expensive bribery, and whatnot. Malaysia, on the other hand, with its 34 million people, isn't that promising when it comes to potential revenue. They won't be a priority.

[Botnake]

I don't think Bybit has any plan to register and get the necessary license to operate it India, i guess they are gone for good, because if they had plans to return, they would have indicated it in their message to their customers.

Binance was banned from operating in India, but they later registered with the fiu-ind and now they are legally allowed to offer their services to customers in India. I believe the conditions were not right for Bybit, their customers will have to move over to other available services.

Maybe they just don’t want to pay the penalty because they might already be losing money from the traders they attract, especially since they’re not the only operator in the country. I also read somewhere that Binance had a similar violation before but chose to pay a $2 million penalty and complied with the requirements, which allowed them to continue operating.

Binance registers with FIU-IND, pays Rs 18.8 crore fine to restart operations in India

[joniboini]

It does look like bybit is restricting Malaysia residents from their end. I tried to sign up for an account using Malaysia IP:

That's surprising. Looks like they took the warning seriously. I do recall they also got blocked in my country but I don't think they banned our IPs, at least in the past. I can access their website fine as of now, and I can access their sign-up page with no issues too. Makes me wonder what's the difference between Malaysia's warning and mine. It seems like most blocked services in Indonesia don't block our IPs at all.

[Potato Chips]

That's surprising. Looks like they took the warning seriously. I do recall they also got blocked in my country but I don't think they banned our IPs, at least in the past. I can access their website fine as of now, and I can access their sign-up page with no issues too. Makes me wonder what's the difference between Malaysia's warning and mine. It seems like most blocked services in Indonesia don't block our IPs at all.

I have noticed it's the same with off shore crypto gambling platforms I've encountered. Typically, there is no restriction from the gambling platform's end. Instead, it's coming from ISP/cell networks at domain level hence folks seem to just change their DNS settings and it's business as usual.

My best guess would be, Indonesia does not go as hard as other countries when it comes to fines or any sort of reprimand under the sun? hence crypto platforms have a more flexible risk appetite. 🤔

What do you think?

[Z-tight]

I also read somewhere that Binance had a similar violation before but chose to pay a $2 million penalty and complied with the requirements, which allowed them to continue operating.

Yeah, i already said in my earlier post that Binance were in a similar situation, but they did all there was to do and now they are legally allowed to operate in the country.

Maybe they just don’t want to pay the penalty because they might already be losing money from the traders they attract, especially since they’re not the only operator in the country.

Due to the population in the country, the Indian market is big and it is an advantage for an exchange to offer their service there. As an exchange, you cannot expect to be the only operator in a country, that cannot be a problem for them, competition is a normal thing for these services.

[bbc.reporter]

I’ve heard about rumor before, but now it’s their official announcement. Maybe they weren’t able to comply with the requirements, or they were working on it but missed the deadline. Since it’s stated as temporary, they seem confident they’ll resume operations. However, they’re still lose a big income because India is such a big market, especially with its huge population.

A similar occurrence has happened on December in Malaysia where the regulators began being more strict on Bybit. I reckon this will be a common occurrence when exchanges begin to collect bigger revenues, become more popular for the small minnow tradees and regulators will begin to notice this and being them their attention.

We have witness this occur on Binance when they became the biggest exchange in the cryptospace. Does this imply that Bybit is becoming something similar to Binance under some jurisdictions around the world? This will certainly not be very shocking.

[Maslate]

I’ve heard about rumor before, but now it’s their official announcement. Maybe they weren’t able to comply with the requirements, or they were working on it but missed the deadline. Since it’s stated as temporary, they seem confident they’ll resume operations. However, they’re still lose a big income because India is such a big market, especially with its huge population.

A similar occurrence has happened on December in Malaysia where the regulators began being more strict on Bybit. I reckon this will be a common occurrence when exchanges begin to collect bigger revenues, become more popular for the small minnow tradees and regulators will begin to notice this and being them their attention.

We have witness this occur on Binance when they became the biggest exchange in the cryptospace. Does this imply that Bybit is becoming something similar to Binance under some jurisdictions around the world? This will certainly not be very shocking.

If the basis for regulation is simply spotting an exchange with growing revenue, then it’s not just about that one exchange. The law applies to everyone, so it affects all exchanges equally. If I’m not mistaken, Binance is also operating in India, but they’ve already complied with the regulations. That’s why other exchanges need to follow suit to make it fair and to help ensure the country’s revenue grows as well.

[ultrloa]

I’ve heard about rumor before, but now it’s their official announcement. Maybe they weren’t able to comply with the requirements, or they were working on it but missed the deadline. Since it’s stated as temporary, they seem confident they’ll resume operations. However, they’re still lose a big income because India is such a big market, especially with its huge population.

A similar occurrence has happened on December in Malaysia where the regulators began being more strict on Bybit. I reckon this will be a common occurrence when exchanges begin to collect bigger revenues, become more popular for the small minnow tradees and regulators will begin to notice this and being them their attention.

We have witness this occur on Binance when they became the biggest exchange in the cryptospace. Does this imply that Bybit is becoming something similar to Binance under some jurisdictions around the world? This will certainly not be very shocking.

If the basis for regulation is simply spotting an exchange with growing revenue, then it’s not just about that one exchange. The law applies to everyone, so it affects all exchanges equally. If I’m not mistaken, Binance is also operating in India, but they’ve already complied with the regulations. That’s why other exchanges need to follow suit to make it fair and to help ensure the country’s revenue grows as well.

Provably this is not the issue there. Maybe the government just want to regulate those platform running in their country.

This is the reason why maybe Bybit announce that they are temporarily unavailable to that country since provably that they are fixing things and want to comply everything asked by government. So for now I guess its better to find some good alternative exchange and wait for Bybit to fix everything.

Maybe this situation is expected to happen in some countries to since crypto popularity is growing and provably that government is taking advantage maybe to get profit from those businesses operating in their jurisdiction.

[Bitcoin Smith]

If the basis for regulation is simply spotting an exchange with growing revenue, then it’s not just about that one exchange. The law applies to everyone, so it affects all exchanges equally. If I’m not mistaken, Binance is also operating in India, but they’ve already complied with the regulations. That’s why other exchanges need to follow suit to make it fair and to help ensure the country’s revenue grows as well.

Provably this is not the issue there. Maybe the government just want to regulate those platform running in their country.

This is the reason why maybe Bybit announce that they are temporarily unavailable to that country since provably that they are fixing things and want to comply everything asked by government. So for now I guess its better to find some good alternative exchange and wait for Bybit to fix everything.

I am from India and let me share the reality of our country. These things all started back in 2022 when Indian exchanges combined all together and made government to force all the International exchanges out of operation so they could make all the revenue so government drawn strict regulatory policies that includes access to sensitive information of exchanges.

So some exchanges left the country, but exchange like Kucoin and Binance don't want to leave a potential market with 1.4 Billion people so they adhered to it and paid their penalty dues as well, but it gave few months of time for more Indian exchanges to popup. But sooner Binance came back most exchanges been ghosted and went bankrupt, also involving in much shady activities that doesn't let their customers to withdraw their funds as much as possible.

So for the government they tasted revenue coming from exchanges as well as 1%TDS coming from every trade that happens now trying to enforce more strict laws that is why Bybit want to leave the ground but as said they mentioned temporary but if was temporary they might tried resolving their issue without exiting the country so it's kind of obvious they are long gone or atleast for a while.

[TheUltraElite]

We were discussing about this event in our local board. The government here has been trying to suppress cryptocurrency use for the last few years even though many tech startups have been trying to take up crypto and crypto related services to provide for the customers here.

Humungous taxation on crypto, shooing away exchanges that were running here and so on.

Government here bootlicks what the West is doing and if they follow that suit for crypto, things will get better with Trump coming in to support crypto, but for now bybit is out of the question.

[Maslate]

I am from India and let me share the reality of our country. These things all started back in 2022 when Indian exchanges combined all together and made government to force all the International exchanges out of operation so they could make all the revenue so government drawn strict regulatory policies that includes access to sensitive information of exchanges.

So some exchanges left the country, but exchange like Kucoin and Binance don't want to leave a potential market with 1.4 Billion people so they adhered to it and paid their penalty dues as well, but it gave few months of time for more Indian exchanges to popup. But sooner Binance came back most exchanges been ghosted and went bankrupt, also involving in much shady activities that doesn't let their customers to withdraw their funds as much as possible.

So for the government they tasted revenue coming from exchanges as well as 1%TDS coming from every trade that happens now trying to enforce more strict laws that is why Bybit want to leave the ground but as said they mentioned temporary but if was temporary they might tried resolving their issue without exiting the country so it's kind of obvious they are long gone or atleast for a while.

Thanks for shedding light on what’s happening in your country, but honestly, it’s not surprising. Any legal exchange losing revenue to unlicensed ones will definitely look for ways to eliminate the competition. Even without their efforts, the government should act to protect legit operators because these regulated platforms also safeguard the interests of the people.

The risks of trading on unlicensed exchanges are huge. If something goes wrong, we can’t turn to the government for help since those platforms aren’t covered by regulations. In the end, we could lose our money. As for Bybit, it’s a shame. If Binance managed to comply, why couldn’t they?

[Bitcoin Smith]

Important Update:



They paid a fine amount of 9.27 Cr which is little over 1 Million USD for violating the prevention of money laundering act (PMLA), soon after that they proceeded the legal works and became FIU compliant in just a few weeks of time. Obviously Bybit got much bigger issue to deal with on their plate right now but I don't want anyone to miss this so just letting you guys know!

[TheUltraElite]

It shows how the governments are controlling the exchanges by fines and extortion. There may have been money laundering involved and for that damage the exchange has to pay and that is how it is in the world.

I was hopeful that some settlement might get reached in the future and it turned out that way. However the hack has left bybit devastated and that is a lot to take in right now.

They will definitely lose credibility after the hack and it would take a good amount of time before they come back up on feet to handle the Indian crowd.

[bittraffic]

It shows how the governments are controlling the exchanges by fines and extortion. There may have been money laundering involved and for that damage the exchange has to pay and that is how it is in the world.

I was hopeful that some settlement might get reached in the future and it turned out that way. However the hack has left bybit devastated and that is a lot to take in right now.

They will definitely lose credibility after the hack and it would take a good amount of time before they come back up on feet to handle the Indian crowd.

Its just like what happened to binance which I think will also be banned in my country if they are not going to comply to the government after operating without license. I think the rest of the exchanges are going to have issues. Binance was approached to pay billions to Nigeria last year also, which the local government detained 2 binance executives.

I wonder if Coinbase is going to also pay for their license because they are planning to operate in India.

[Bitcoin Smith]

I wonder if Coinbase is going to also pay for their license because they are planning to operate in India.

Those paid amount from Binance and Bybit are not the fee rather then penalty amount for operating without proper licensing. If I am not wrong Coinbase never operated yet in India so there's won't be any fine for them but they are having legal restrictions that may overlap with their data sharing policies with the government.