Financial Intelligence Unit, an Indian government agency which scrutinizes financial transactions, said Thursday nine global crypto exchanges — including Binance, Kraken, Kucoin and Mexc—are operating “illegally” in the country without complying with the local anti-money laundering act and asked the IT Ministry to block their websites. Global crypto exchanges are required to comply with India’s anti-money laundering rules and cannot evade the guidelines just because they don’t have physical presence in the country, the government agency said. Cryptocurrencies were brought into the ambit of anti-money laundering / counter financing of terrorism framework in India in March this year. While India-based crypto exchanges including a16z-backed CoinSwitch Kuber, B Capital-backed CoinDCX and former Binance-partner WazirX continue to require rigorous know-your-customer verifications before onboarding new users, the same hasn’t been true of many global platforms. “Most Indian crypto exchanges are FIU registered entities and adhere with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Source: Nigerian Tribune January 01, 2024 17:49 UTC