Crypto exchange WazirX says ED has unfrozen its bank account
The Hindu
The ED had frozen ₹64.67 crore worth of WazirX’s bank deposits while probing allegations of money laundering
The Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX said on Monday that its bank accounts has been unfrozen by India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED), after the exchange’s “active cooperation” and “active anti-money laundering” checks led to blocking suspicious accounts.
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The ED had issued orders to freeze ₹64.67 crore worth of crypto exchange WazirX’s bank deposits in August this year. At the time, the ED was investigating money laundering allegations and several fraud loan apps believed to be funded by Chinese sources.
WazirX’s blog post published on Monday stated that some of the 16 fintech companies and instant loan apps being investigated by the ED were using its platform. WazirX reported that after an internal investigation, it flagged the accounts the ED wished to probe and blocked them as early as 2020 and 2021.
“The company further clarified that it has no association with any of the alleged accused Fintech and Instant loan app entities which appear to be the subject of ED investigation, and is carrying out the KYC/AML checks despite having no legal obligation to do so. WazirX is like any other intermediary whose platform may have been misused,” stated the company’s blog post.
In a separate incident, in August, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said that a show-cause notice was issued under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) against WazirX. This was due to allegations that WazirX had enabled crypto remittances worth Rs 2,790 crore to unknown locations.
Mr. Chaudhary also claimed that WazirX was enabling transactions between itself and the international crypto exchange Binance, which were not being recorded on the blockchain.
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