Indian Government Imposes AML Laws to Cryptocurrency Transactions
- The Indian Finance Ministry has introduced anti-money laundering regulations on crypto trading.
- Several crypto-related scams have prompted the government to tighten up the regulations.
- Before this, India imposed a 30% tax on crypto transactions.
The Indian government has taken a major step forward in regulating digital assets, applying money laundering laws to crypto trading. In a notification on Tuesday, the Finance Ministry declared that crypto-related services such as trading and safekeeping are now subject to anti-money laundering regulations.
Jaideep Reddy, an attorney from Trilegal, was quoted by Bloomberg saying:
This move by the Indian government follows a global trend of mandating digital asset platforms to comply with anti-money laundering laws, similar to those used by banks and stock brokers.
The recent introduction of money laundering regulations comes in the wake of multiple crypto-related scandals in the country. Last year, for instance, the hackers who had taken down the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) website were arrested after they demanded a cryptocurrency ransom of over $24 million.
The same month also saw the Indian Directorate of Enforcement (ED) confiscating more than $2.5 million of fraudulent gaming tokens related to E-nuggets. The authorities seized the Binance user’s wallet linked to the mobile gaming app, freezing 150.22 Bitcoin.
In September, the regulator froze the accounts of several individuals in connection with the investigation of an app-based token called HPZ. The amount seized was Rs. 9.82 Crores, which is equivalent to $1218,529.39.
Before this, the government had imposed a 30% capital gains tax on crypto transactions as well as a 1% tax deducted from the source (TDS). According to a recent report, the tax regime has caused Indian crypto trading activity to drop.
This article was first published on Coin Edition following the Indian Finance Ministry’s announcement of imposing AML laws to cryptocurrency transactions.
See Original on CoinEdition
