Offshore cryptocurrency platforms holding billions of dollars in assets are now the focus of the Indian government. The government’s financial watchdog is taking action against 25 exchanges for failing to register and comply with anti-money laundering obligations.
The Financial Intelligence Unit India issued notices to 25 crypto exchanges, including BingX, LBank, CoinW, ProBit Global, BTCC, AscendEX, Zoomex, and Poloniex. The notices were for failing to comply with the country’s anti-money laundering rules, as stated by the Indian finance ministry. The regulator also ordered these platforms to remove their apps and websites from public access in India. However, most of the platforms remained accessible at the time of reporting.
Among the 25 exchanges, 14 together hold more than nine billion dollars in assets. These 14 exchanges also recorded approximately twenty billion dollars in trading volume over the past twenty-four hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Several affected crypto exchanges, including BingX, LBank, CoinW, and ProBit Global, did not respond to requests for comments.
While India does not have a dedicated regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, the Indian finance ministry notified in March 2023 that virtual asset service providers would fall under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act of 2002. This action made it mandatory for crypto exchanges serving Indian users to register with the Financial Intelligence Unit India and comply with its reporting and compliance requirements.
The Indian finance ministry has stated that at least 50 crypto exchanges have so far registered with India’s anti-money laundering watchdog. This same watchdog has previously taken action against major platforms such as Binance, Coinbase, KuCoin and OKX. OKX exited the Indian market last year, while Binance, Coinbase and KuCoin registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit in recent months to resume their operations.
Binance restarted its India operations in August 2024. Coinbase re-entered India earlier this year. Recently, Coinbase also launched an early-access program for Indian users who had already signed up, though the exchange’s services are not yet fully operational in the country.