India Introduces New AML Measures

The Indian government has put the crypto sector under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). But is it a signal of greater regulation to come?

According to the Ministry of Finance, all Virtual Digital Assets businesses will come under PMLA. This means that the businesses would have to perform and report:

1. Know your Transactions (KYT)
2. Transactions monitoring and reporting
3. Address screening and reporting
4. Suspicious Activities Reports (SARs)
5. Suspicious Transactions Report (STRs)

Experts Encouraged by Crypto Regulations

The Indian industry stakeholders have mostly welcomed the government’s decision. Nischal Shetty, the Chief Executive Officer of the WazirX exchange, has called it a “good step towards regulating the crypto industry in India.”

Sumit Gupta, the CEO of CoinDCX exchange, told Moneycontrol, “Slowly but surely, we are moving towards a regulated crypto ecosystem! Entities such as CoinDCX are now required by law to conduct due diligence and enhanced due diligence under the PMLA.”

Gaurav Dahake, CEO of Bitbns exchange, told BeInCrypto that they are studying the implications of the new PMLA requirements. He says, “We already comply with the norms of transaction monitoring, etc. What additional things would be there we need to figure out.”

Crypto influencer Keyur Rohit believes, “This is the dawn of a new era for the crypto industry, and the future looks bright.”

Crypto regulations have become a focal point of India’s presidency of the G20 intergovernmental forum. The Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, is seeking a globally coordinated effort to regulate the asset class.