A few days ago, Nirmala Sitharaman, the Finance Minister of India, urged the country’s crypto community to deal with digital assets with caution. People and start-ups were warned that new cryptocurrencies are being released every day, and that not everything floating around in the name of blockchain could be real money.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) of Hyderabad summoned the country’s nine top-listed cryptocurrency exchange platforms starting in August 2022. The summoned exchanges were accompanied by allegations of money laundering.
These top crypto exchange platforms have been caught breaking RBI (Reserve Bank of India) rules by engaging in predatory money lending with fintech partners and doing business through Indian financial companies that are not banks.
The WazirX scandal’s role in exposing money laundering
WazirX, owned by one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges—Binance—was targeted by the ED, which resulted in freezing assets of WazirX worth Rs 64.67 crores. Amidst the ongoing hot situation in India regarding crypto exchanges and their transparency of operations monitored by the ED, Binance disowned WazirX.
On August 9, WazirX answered the questions raised by the ED by saying that the crypto exchange platform believes in a policy of “zero tolerance” for any illegal activities that are going on.
However, the investigation into WazirX and other crypto exchanges partnered with Binance The situation suggests that WazirX is paying the price of partnering with Binance. But, the situation for Binance vs. the ED is certainly something to worry about.
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