Indian regulators have taken action against nine crypto companies offering crypto services in India without following AML and CFT measures.
In India, crypto trading is legal and all crypto investors must pay 30% tax on the profits generated from each crypto transaction. Moreover, all crypto platforms charge 1% TDS (advance tax) from the crypto traders on every transaction. Due to the TAX & TDS system, majority of Indian crypto traders use non-Indian crypto platforms to avoid tax and TDS charges.
On December 28, 2023, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) taken strict action against nine crypto firms offering crypto trading services for non-compliance with India’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML-CFT) laws.
These nine crypto companies are Binance, KuCoin, Huobi, Kraken, Gate.ioBittrex, Bitstamp, MEXC Global and Bitfinex.
In March of this year, the crypto sector was added under the authority of the FIU. This Indian government agency targeted these exchanges because they were operating without registration and compliance with the PMLA.
Now it is time for these crypto companies to respond to the issued order and file a proper report to explain their activities and relationship with Indian crypto investors.
The Director of FIU IND has requested the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to restrict access to URLs of these crypto companies as they are conducting activities without adhering to Indian laws.
Currently, a total of 31 crypto companies are registered with the FIU and are fully compliant with the AML and CFT framework. This latest action against these nine crypto companies is a clear signal that Indian government authorities are now active against the misuse of cryptocurrencies under Indian jurisdiction.
Just a few days ago we reported that an official from the Central Bank of India (RBI) spoke about cryptocurrencies in an interview with the local media.
The RBI official said there was no benefit to regulating the crypto sector and integrating it with the Indian financial economy.
Also read: Cardano (ADA) tops the crypto sector in terms of development activities