Kraken, Cryptocurrency Platform, Plans to Re-enter the Indian Market

Nitin Konde, Varun Bhardwaj

24 Feb 2025 — 2 min read

Kraken Plans Comeback in Indian Crypto Market

According to a prominent media outlet, Vishesh Khurana, a cofounder of Shiprocket, has been appointed as an advisor by San Francisco-based cryptocurrency trading platform Kraken, which is planning to relaunch its services in India. According to the report, Khurana will oversee Kraken's operations in India. According to reports, Kraken will shortly interact with local authorities to submit applications for operating licenses. At the moment, Khurana is a managing partner at Tribe Capital India, a venture capital firm. Tribe Capital's founder, Arjun Sethi, is currently Kraken's co-CEO. A spokesperson for Kraken confirmed that the company is seeking authorisation and that Vishesh (Khurana) is functioning as an advisor to the firm.

Why Kraken was Banned?

In early 2024, Kraken and eight other cryptocurrency exchanges were banned from India for violating the nation's anti-money laundering regulations. Cryptocurrency exchanges operating in India are required to abide by the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which includes reporting suspicious transactions, adhering to know-your-customer (KYC) guidelines, and registering with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). Several media outlets reported in September of last year that in order to resume operations, offshore cryptocurrency exchanges could also need to pay outstanding goods and services tax (GST) obligations. Among the offshore cryptocurrency trading platforms that the FIU has approved to resume operations thus far are Binance and KuCoin.

Reasons for Re-Entering the Indian Market

Following a surge in the value of major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which is currently trading at almost all-time highs, Kraken aims to re-enter India. According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin was trading at over $96,000 on 19 February 2025. Based on 24-hour trading volume, CoinMarketCap ranked Kraken as the seventh-largest cryptocurrency exchange globally on February 19. The biggest was Binance, which was followed by Coinbase and Bybit. Sethi disclosed in a blog post on January 31 that Kraken made $1.5 billion in 2024, more than doubling $671 million in 2023, when the markets were weak.

According to Sethi, clients trusted us with 2.5 million funded accounts and $42.8 billion in platform assets over the course of the year. Kraken's average revenue per customer is now well over $2,000, significantly beyond any similar statistic recently seen from traditional or cryptocurrency exchanges. In 2024, total trading volumes hit $665 billion.

Today, the brand is setting itself up for even more acceleration due to industry tailwinds and more regulatory certainty, both domestically and internationally. The election of Donald Trump as the US president has given cryptocurrencies a significant boost as an asset. According to a global news outlet, Trump has stated his strong support for digital assets and even pledged during his campaign to make the US the "crypto capital of the planet."