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The Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) has issued notices to 15 Virtual Digital Assets Service Providers (VDA SPs) for non-compliance with provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday.
As part of the compliance action, the FIU-IND has issued notices under Section 13 of the PMLA to the 15 entities, which include Weex, Blofin, Rezorex, Bitunix, DigiFinex, Toobit, XT.com, Latoken, WOO X, Pionex, ChangeNow, SimpleSwap, Fixedfloat, WhiteBIT and Guardian. The ministry said the FIU-IND, acting as the nodal officer under the Information Technology Act, 2000, has also issued notices to take down the applications or URLs of these entities from public access. The entities were found to be operating illegally without complying with the relevant provisions of the PMLA in India. VDA service providers were brought under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism framework through provisions of the PMLA in March 2023, the ministry said. The regulations apply to VDA SPs operating in India, whether offshore or onshore, and carrying out activities such as exchange between virtual digital assets and fiat currencies, transfer of virtual digital assets, safekeeping or administration of digital assets, or services enabling control over such assets. Such service providers are required to register with the FIU-IND as reporting entities and comply with obligations mandated under the PMLA and related rules. The ministry said these obligations are activity-based and do not depend on whether an entity has a physical presence in India. The regulation requires VDA SPs to maintain records, report transactions and meet other obligations under the PMLA, including registration with the FIU-IND. The ministry also issued a public safety advisory, stating that crypto products and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unregulated and can be highly risky. It cautioned that there may be no regulatory recourse for losses arising from such transactions. (ANI)
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