India Cracks Down on Offshore Crypto Platforms for Non-Compliance

India's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has issued non-compliance notices to 15 offshore cryptocurrency platforms, including Weex, Blofin, WOO X, and WhiteBIT. The platforms were found operating in India without meeting the country's anti-money laundering requirements under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The FIU sought takedown action against the platforms' apps and URLs for violating Section 13 of the PMLA and Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act. This move follows earlier enforcement actions, including a December 2023 notice to nine major exchanges, which led to the blocking of several platforms in January 2024.

The targeted platforms include Weex, Blofin, Rezorex, Bitunix, DigiFinex, Toobit, XT.com, Latoken, WOO X, Pionex, ChangeNow, SimpleSwap, Fixedfloat, WhiteBIT, and Guardarian. The FIU did not announce financial penalties against the companies but instead requested they take down their public access to applications and URLs.

The action is part of India's efforts to regulate cryptocurrency transactions and prevent money laundering. In March 2023, India brought virtual digital asset service providers under its anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism framework, requiring businesses offering crypto-to-fiat exchange, digital asset transfers, custody, and other services to register with FIU-IND.