New Delhi: WazirX, one of India’s largest cryptocurrency trading platforms with millions of users, has revealed that during a 6-month period between October 2022 and March 2023, it received 431 requests from law enforcement agencies (LEAs), amounting to $390 million. million were related to transactions totaling Rs.
The LEA requests were related to the blocking of user accounts, “suspected offenders proceedings, investigation”, and information as to whether “such The accused (users) had dealt in crypto through our (WazirX’s) platform”, the company said in its transparency report released on Tuesday.
Of the total requests, 46 were from foreign LEAs and 385 from Indian reports Said.
According to WazirX, one of the Estimated User Base 10 million users by 2021.
WazirX said It had received requests from the Indian LEA like National Investigation Agency (NIA), Enforcement Directorate (ED), State Cyber Crime Cell, Odisha Vigilance Department and Bhopal, West Bengal and Maharashtra Police Departments.
Foreign LEAs Requesting Information and Action Toronto Police Department, Canada, Dortmund, Germany Police Department, New York County District Attorney, Burlington Police, California Police Department and Florida Police.
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LEA requested on decline from WazirX
1 November 2022 WazirX’s transparency report says it received 828 requests for information from LEAs During April to September 2022, In the previous 6 months, WazirX had received 1,023 requests.
WazirX said it blocked more than 2,431 accounts based on the company’s own monitoring process and the LEA’s instructions.
The crypto platform says it “proactively” reports suspicious transactions to the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND).
Suspicious Transactions may include activity where User’s trading volume does not match User’s data about personal ITR/financial status/income available with WazirX; or transactions flagged as high-risk by third-party forensic tools, or users who do not submit information or explanation regarding the source of funds or proof of income.
The Government of India has not yet taken a firm stand on whether to regulate cryptocurrencies.
The latest Economic Survey of the Finance Ministry, tabled in Parliament on January 30, They say Crypto assets “do not pass the test of being a financial asset because there is no internal cash flow attached to it”. topic of cryptocurrencies was absent Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget 2023 speech.
At the moment, the only real regulation on cryptocurrencies exists in the form of taxation, where crypto transactions are subject to tax deduction at source (TDS), and profits from such transitions are subject to a 30 percent tax.
Concerns about cryptocurrencies being used for illegal activities are further supported by WazirX’s report, which indicates that the majority of LEA inquiries regarding illegal transactions were regarding fraudulent activities involving virtual digital assets (VDAs). Cryptocurrency is an example of VDAs.
WazirX said, “From our regular coordination with LEAs and further analysis of the requests received, we could detect several nefarious activities in the VDA area. Most of the illegal transactions, for which inquiries were sent, were fraudulent activities with VDAs.
(Edited by Geetalakshmi Ramanathan)
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