Indian gov't imposes money laundering provisions on cryptocurrencies

NEW DELHI, March 9 (Xinhua) -- In a bid to tighten oversight of digital assets, the Indian government has imposed money laundering provisions on cryptocurrencies or virtual assets, officials said Thursday.

A gazette notification issued by the country's federal finance ministry said the anti-money laundering legislation has been applied to crypto trading, safekeeping, and related financial services.

With this decision, digital assets, cryptos or virtual asset businesses will now fall under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

As per the notification, virtual digital assets (VDA) will now be considered a "reporting entity" under the PMLA and cryptocurrency exchanges and intermediaries that deal in VDAs are mandated to perform Know Your Customer (KYC) of their clients and users.

KYC is a set of processes that allow banks and other financial institutions to confirm the identity of the organizations and individuals they do business with and ensures those entities are acting legally.

It also said that crypto exchanges are required to report any suspicious transactions to the Financial Intelligence Unit of India (FIU-IND).

Experts see the move in resonance with the global trend of requiring digital-asset platforms to follow anti-money laundering standards.