India seeks takedowns of 15 crypto platforms over AML compliance

India’s Financial Intelligence Unit on Wednesday issued non-compliance notices to 15 crypto platforms under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, including Weex, Blofin, Bitunix, DigiFinex, and Toobit.

The agency also issued notices seeking the takedown of the platforms’ applications and URLs from public access, saying the entities were operating illegally in India without complying with relevant PMLA provisions. 

Other platforms named in the list are Rezorex, XT.com, Latoken, WOO X, Pionex, ChangeNow, SimpleSwap, FixedFloat, WhiteBIT, and Guardarian.

The enforcement push follows the March 2023 expansion of India’s anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism framework, which brought VDA service providers operating in India, whether offshore or onshore, under FIU registration and other PMLA obligations. 

The obligations include reporting and record-keeping requirements and are not contingent on an entity having a physical presence in India, according to the Finance Ministry. Crypto platforms have previously restricted or resumed services in India in connection with the country’s regulatory requirements.

Bybit temporarily restricted services in the country on Jan. 12, 2025, while completing its FIU registration and later restored full app access. Coinbase also resumed onboarding Indian users after registering with the FIU, while Binance returned to the market in 2024 after paying a $2.25 million penalty.

Meanwhile, the FIU said crypto products and NFTs remain unregulated in India and warned that transactions may carry no regulatory recourse for losses.