India’s Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) has issued a notice to Binance, demanding a payment of about $86 million for Goods and Services Tax (GST).
This is the DGGI’s first major move against a cryptocurrency firm, marking a significant development in regulatory enforcement.
The notice addresses GST on fees collected from Indian users trading virtual assets on Binance’s platform. Despite Binance’s extensive global presence and substantial market share, it had not registered for GST in India, leading to this regulatory action.
Reports indicate that Binance earned approximately $476 million from transaction fees in India, with these earnings routed through its Seychelles-based subsidiary. In response, Binance has hired local legal counsel in India to resolve the issue.
Earlier this year, Binance also faced a fine from India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) for non-compliance with anti-money laundering regulations. The FIU has stressed the need for improved compliance from Binance under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
This scrutiny aligns with a global trend of increasing regulatory pressure on cryptocurrency exchanges. For instance, Binance was recently charged with tax evasion in Nigeria for avoiding Value-Added Tax (VAT) and Company Income Tax.
According to crypto analytics firm Santiment, the decentralized oracle network Chainlink (LINK) leads all ERC-20 projects in development activity.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for the upcoming presidential election in November, recently spoke at a Wall Street fundraiser where she addressed the cryptocurrency industry for the first time.
Donors from Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood played a key role in helping Vice President Kamala Harris’ fundraising efforts in August, giving Democrats a financial advantage over Donald Trump on the cusp of the run-off election.
Pro-XRP attorney John Deaton, who has secured the Republican nomination for a Massachusetts Senate seat, will face off against Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren in a highly anticipated debate on October 15, 2024.