FIU evaluations linked crypto transactions to scams, fraud, playing networks, and severe felony actions.
Non-compliant crypto platforms have been fined ₹28 crore in FY 2024–25 for AML breaches.
Authorities are constructing intelligence on transaction hotspots and high-risk digital property.
India is accelerating its push to control the crypto sector as enforcement businesses sharpen their deal with monetary crime dangers linked to digital property.
Throughout the 2024–25 monetary 12 months, 49 cryptocurrency exchanges formally registered with the Monetary Intelligence Unit, marking a decisive step towards tighter anti-money laundering and counter-terror financing controls.
The transfer displays a broader regulatory recalibration as authorities reply to rising proof of crypto misuse and broaden scrutiny throughout platforms working within the nation.
The regulatory shift has additionally triggered wider dialogue throughout the home crypto ecosystem.
A latest publish on X by CoinDCX CEO Sumit Gupta drew consideration to the intensifying compliance atmosphere, as exchanges more and more function beneath FIU supervision.
The publish circulated as registration, monitoring, and enforcement turned central themes in India’s crypto coverage in the course of the monetary 12 months.
FIU flags misuse dangers
A evaluation of Suspicious Transaction Stories submitted by crypto platforms throughout FY 2024–25 revealed repeated patterns of high-risk exercise, reported the Press Belief of India.
The evaluation discovered crypto funds linked to scams, fraud, playing networks, unaccounted transfers, and peer-to-peer misuse.
The FIU additionally recognized extra severe dangers, together with hyperlinks to darkish internet providers, terror financing, and little one sexual abuse materials.
Exchanges beneath one regulator
Of the 49 registered exchanges, 45 are primarily based in India, and 4 function abroad.
In contrast to a number of jurisdictions the place crypto oversight is break up throughout a number of businesses, India has designated the FIU, which operates beneath the Ministry of Finance, as the only authority liable for supervising crypto exchanges.
Trade leaders have identified that India’s crypto market is extra aggressive than it’s usually perceived, with a number of platforms vying for customers and liquidity.
This aggressive atmosphere, they argue, can help innovation, supplied regulatory expectations are clear and constantly enforced throughout all gamers.
Compliance guidelines defined
Crypto exchanges in India are labeled as Digital Digital Asset Service Suppliers and have been lined beneath the Prevention of Cash Laundering Act since 2023.
As a part of this framework, platforms are required to submit Suspicious Transaction Stories, establish pockets house owners, observe token fundraising exercise akin to IPO-style launches, and monitor transfers between hosted and un-hosted wallets.
Following registration, exchanges should additionally disclose their banking relationships, appoint compliance officers, conduct inner audits, apply risk-based buyer checks, display screen transactions in opposition to sanctions lists, and perform common danger assessments.
All related knowledge should be shared with the FIU to help ongoing supervision.
Enforcement and penalties
Enforcement has accompanied registration. Throughout FY 2024–25, crypto platforms that failed to satisfy Anti Cash Laundering (AML) obligations have been fined a mixed ₹28 crore.
The FIU additionally mapped regional transaction hotspots and recognized digital property continuously related to illicit exercise, strengthening the federal government’s broader monitoring and intelligence capabilities.
