Crypto traders in India shifted to the Binance exchange, to avoid paying taxes.
In August, the number of downloads of Binance’s app in India increased to 429,000.
The leading crypto trading platform, Binance is strengthening its hold in the Indian market. According to recent reports, since the Indian government started taxing cryptocurrency transactions, the Binance exchange has seen a dramatic increase in the number of Indian users.
After a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) took effect in July, the number of Indian users signing up on the Binance platform has skyrocketed. As per the reports, the number of Binance app downloads in India increased to 429,000 in August, making it the biggest amount this year. To avoid paying taxes, Indian traders are now focusing on international exchanges.
Indian Exchanges Dips in Market
Along with Binance, other major global exchanges also attained a sharp increase in the number of Indian users. One of the prominent exchange platforms, FTX saw nearly 96,000 users in July. However, the number of app downloads of Coinbase exchange has decreased from approximately 31,000 in June to 16,000 in August.
At the same time, the Indian-based crypto exchanges saw a significant fall in the market. Those platforms witnessed a huge downfall in Indian users. Mumbai-based exchange, CoinDCX fell to 163,000 in August from 2.2 million in January. Another major platform, Wazirx, showed a decline in monthly app downloads from roughly 596,000 in January to 92,000 in August.
In a market where competitors are struggling due to high taxes and the difficulties of getting money into and out of trading venues, the Binance exchange stands apart. Moreover, since a 1% tax on cryptocurrency transactions went into force in July, daily volumes at important India-based platforms have decreased by more than 90%.