Indian crypto exchange WazirX suspected of laundering $350 million

Article Reading Time:
2 minutes.

The Enforcement Directorate of the Government of India has announced that it has launched an investigation into the cryptocurrency exchange WazirX.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) of the Government of India ED is investigating two cases against the WazirX exchange related to violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA)

"The results of the investigation carried outThe Enforcement Directorate revealed that the Indian crypto exchange platform Wazirx, operated by Zanmai Labs Private Limited, systematically used the offshore unit of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange in the Cayman Islands to carry out transactions. It was discovered that almost all crypto transactions between these two exchanges were not only anonymous, but also not recorded in the blockchains,” Finance Minister Pankaj Chaudhary announced at a meeting of the upper house of the Indian Parliament.

The Minister told Parliament that, in accordance withAccording to FEMA regulations, an investigation was launched against the WazirX exchange on suspicion of money laundering in the amount of $350 million in favor of an unspecified number of persons.

Let us remind you that one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in India, WazirX, was acquired by
Binance back in 2019. Thus, through ownership of the local platform, Binance was able to enter the Indian market with millions of potential users.

In July ED demanded,
that all cryptocurrency platforms providing services in the country provide
transaction data for the last three years to conduct an internal audit of
facts of possible violation of the law on currency regulation. In addition, the department
asked to provide all documentation related to the current work, including
number reflection of transactions in accounting.