India’s financial crime regulator is cracking down on international cryptocurrency websites for providing services inside the nation while ignoring local regulations.
On Tuesday, the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) issued non-compliance notices pursuant to Section 13 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act directed at 15 virtual digital asset service providers, which consist entirely of smaller and mid-sized entities.
The formal statement identified Weex, Blofin, Rezorex, Bitunix, DigiFinex, Toobit, XT.com, Latoken, WOO X, Pionex, ChangeNow, SimpleSwap, Fixedfloat, WhiteBIT, and Guardarian as entities in violation.
India subjected crypto platforms and virtual digital asset (VDA) service providers to the identical anti–money laundering mandates as traditional financial institutions back in March 2023. This mandate dictates that any digital asset exchange catering to Indian participants must complete registration with the Financial Intelligence Unit–India (FIU-IND), regardless of whether they maintain an operational office on domestic soil. Following registration, these exchanges are obligated to keep rigorous user logs, verify customer identities, and disclose suspicious transactions to authorities.
Furthermore, the FIU issued warnings to citizens regarding the inherent dangers tied to digital tokens and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
“It is pertinent to mention for the safety and awareness of general public that the Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions,” the official announcement stated.
The sequence of this latest enforcement action is particularly significant. It follows closely after a report by The Economic Times indicating that Indian participants are actively transferring stablecoins such as USDT to international portals located in Germany, Sweden, and Singapore that exchange the digital currency for gift vouchers. These vouchers are subsequently utilized domestically to pay for everyday items, petrol, and precious metals. This method successfully bypasses domestic trading desks and evades detection by regional regulators completely.
Previously, the FIU-IND targeted nine prominent global exchanges, including KuCoin, Kraken, and Binance, in December 2023 by dispatching show-cause directives as outlined by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) alongside demanding that the technology ministry restrict access to their web addresses due to unauthorized service provision.
Ultimately, Binance completed registration with the regulatory body and settled a landmark fine of INR 18.82 crore addressing anti-money laundering infractions.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/09/09/india-s-financial-intelligence-unit-flags-15-crypto-platforms-for-aml-lapses.
