India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED), the agency responsible for financial crimes, has seized over $115.5 million to date in crypto money laundering proceeds. According to a report by TechCrunch on Tuesday, the regulator has been investigating crypto cases for money laundering schemes and seized the aforementioned amount in such crimes.
Indian Regulator Scrutinizes Crypto Firms
The law enforcement agency arrested five individuals in connection with a crypto money laundering scheme. ED was also responsible for freezing bank deposits of local crypto exchange WazirX last year as part of its money laundering probe. However, the bank accounts were later unfrozen.
Aside from scrutinizing WazirX, ED has also been investigating at least nine crypto other exchanges, including CoinSwitch and Kuber, for alleged money laundering. Criminals defrauding investors of their money and moving the ill-gotten proceeds offshore are also being targeted by the regulator.
India Imposes Money Laundering Provisions on Crypto
The latest disclosure comes at a time when India is making efforts to set up a regulatory framework to better scrutinize the activities of local cryptocurrency exchanges. As part of this effort, India’s Ministry of Finance recently revealed it has imposed money laundering provisions on the crypto sector.
The move would require domestic exchanges to carry out due diligence on transactions and report suspicious or high-value transactions to the authorities in the country. As per reports, the provisions have been applied to crypto trading and financial services.
Late last year, India stated that under its ongoing G20 presidency, one of its priorities is to set up a global regulation, which could include the possibility of banning unbacked crypto assets, stablecoins, and decentralized finance (DeFi) projects.
The Indian government has been making efforts such as imposing several stringent measures aimed at discouraging its citizens from trading in crypto. Earlier last year, the government imposed a 30% tax on profits made from crypto trading without allowing provisions to offset crypto losses against other income. At the same time 1% tax deductible at source (TDS) was imposed on the transfer of crypto assets.
