India FIU-IND Issues Non-Compliance Notices to 15 Offshore Crypto Platforms
According to CoinDesk, India's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND) issued non-compliance notices to 15 small and medium-sized offshore cryptocurrency platforms—including Weex, Blofin, Rezorex, Bitunix, DigiFinex, Toobit, XT.com, Latoken, WOO X, Pionex, ChangeNow, SimpleSwap, Fixedfloat, WhiteBIT, and Guardarian—pursuant to Section 13 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, alleging that these platforms violated regulations by serving Indian users without registering with FIU-IND. Since March 2023, India has brought cryptocurrency platforms under an anti-money laundering regulatory framework equivalent to that of traditional banks, mandating that all platforms serving Indian users, regardless of whether they maintain domestic offices, complete registration and fulfill obligations including customer identity verification and suspicious transaction reporting. In light of this enforcement, reports indicate that some Indian users are circumventing regulations by transferring USDT to overseas platforms to purchase gift cards. FIU-IND also cautioned the public that cryptocurrency products and NFTs remain unregulated and carry high risks, and that affected users may not be able to obtain regulatory recourse for any resulting losses.
