India's Financial Intelligence Unit issued non-compliance notices to 15 offshore crypto platforms for operating in the country without registering under anti-money laundering rules. The watchdog also ordered takedowns of the platforms' apps and URLs, extending an enforcement push that has already forced Binance and Bybit to register and pay penalties.
India's Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) issued non-compliance notices to 15 offshore crypto platforms on Tuesday under Section 13 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The named platforms are Weex, Blofin, Rezorex, Bitunix, DigiFinex, Toobit, XT.com, Latoken, WOO X, Pionex, ChangeNow, SimpleSwap, Fixedfloat, WhiteBIT, and Guardarian.
Takedown orders accompany the notices
Alongside the compliance notices, FIU-IND issued takedown notices covering the platforms' applications and URLs, acting under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act and the 2025 IT rules amendment. FIU-IND did not announce financial penalties against the 15 companies in Tuesday's release.
India brought virtual digital asset service providers under its anti-money laundering framework in March 2023. Any platform serving Indian customers must register with FIU-IND, verify users, keep records, and report suspicious activity — even without a physical presence in the country.
Enforcement follows a stablecoin workaround
The action follows a report that some Indians are moving stablecoins into gift cards to fund everyday purchases. The Economic Times said users convert crypto through platforms in Sweden, Germany, and Singapore, then spend the gift cards on groceries, fuel, and gold, keeping the transactions off domestic exchanges and outside regulators' view.
Earlier crackdowns forced Binance and Bybit to register
FIU-IND first targeted major offshore exchanges in December 2023, issuing show-cause notices to nine platforms including Binance, Kraken, and KuCoin. Authorities then sought to block the exchanges' websites in India.
Binance later registered with FIU-IND and paid a penalty of 188.2 million rupees, roughly $2.25 million at the time. Bybit went through a similar process, paying a 92.7 million rupee penalty before securing its own registration.
FIU-IND also warned the public that crypto and NFTs remain unregulated: "There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions."
Sources: CoinDesk, crypto.news
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