In a march towards clarity and transparency in the crypto regulatory landscape, India’s Financial Intelligence Unit recently completed the registration of 28 Virtual Digital Assets (VDA) and crypto services providers.
28 Virtual Digital Assets Registered in India
According to reports, the Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, released the news in a parliamentary session.
In a tweet, Kashif Raza, the founder of Bitinning, highlighted the significant developments in the Indian Parliament. Per the tweet, a question was asked to provide a list of reporting entities in India. The list mentioned 28 crypto companies, including WazirX, CoinDCX, CoinSwitch, UnoCOin, Bytex, Betbit, and CoinSwitch X.
Ashish Singhal, the co-founder of CoinSwitch, quoted the news highlighting their 100% commitment to consumer protection and transparency. He also explained;
“As a reporting entity to FIU-IND, VASPs likeCoinSwitch fall under the PMLA guidelines — similar to banks, stock brokers etc. The best practices followed by these financial institutions on transaction monitoring now apply to crypto too. Previously, there was no clarity on this. Now, India has a proper framework for crypto too…more transparency.”
None of the 28 registered entities are offshore companies.
The ministry warned that the guidelines must be followed by offshore cryptocurrency exchanges which offer services to the Indian market. Any non-compliance will lead to action under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
India’s Crypto Framework
These recent developments come a few months after the Finance Ministry issued a mandate in March, asking crypto businesses to align with the FIA. The entire reason for issuing the mandate is to help fight money laundering.
Indian watchdogs have been quite active concerning cryptocurrency regulation in the country. Last month, the Indian Supreme Court outrightly denied quests to consider Public Interest Litigation framed to create regulations for crypto trading in the country.