India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) has searched five premises connected with cryptocurrency company CoinSwitch on alleged money laundering charges, according to a media report.
See related article: India’s WazirX says it has no-tolerance policy on illegal activities
Fast facts
- The country’s central agency fighting financial crime conducted searches at residences of CoinSwitch directors and the official premises of the exchange on Thursday as they did not receive the desired cooperation from the officials, media outlet CoinDesk quoted an unidentified official at the Bangalore cell of the ED.
- The official told CoinDesk they are looking into several possible violations under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and other entities connected to it.
- When contacted, a CoinSwitch spokesperson neither confirmed nor denied the searches. “We receive queries from various government agencies. Our approach has always been that of transparency. Crypto is an early stage industry with a lot of potential and we continuously engage with all stakeholders,” the spokesperson told Forkast in a text message.
- India’s Enforcement Directorate is currently investigating more than 10 cryptocurrency exchanges in the country for allegedly laundering more than 10 billion rupees (US$125 million).
- Earlier this month, the ED had issued a show cause notice to crypto exchange WazirX under the provisions of FEMA for allegedly allowing outward remittance of crypto assets worth 277.57 million Indian rupees (US$3.49 million) to unknown wallets.
See related article: Tax authorities recover US$9M from India’s biggest crypto exchanges