India's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has announced that 49 cryptocurrency exchanges have registered under the country's anti-money laundering framework for the fiscal year 2024-25.
This development marks a significant step toward strengthening oversight of India's growing digital asset sector.
India’s FIU: 49 crypto companies now comply with AML standards for FY24-25
According to the latest annual report from the FIU, most registered platforms are domestic; 45 exchanges operate within India itself. The remaining four are foreign platforms that have registered with the FIU as "reporting entities." As a result, they can still serve Indian users in accordance with the country's regulations.
In India, cryptocurrencies are legally classified as Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs). Furthermore, the platforms enabling the trading of these assets are designated as VDA Service Providers (VDA SPs).
In 2023, regulators formally placed these entities under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). As reporting entities, VDA SPs are required to file a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) with the FIU.
Their obligations further include identifying and reporting the ultimate beneficiaries of wallets, monitoring fund-raising activities such as initial coin offerings or token offers, and tracking transactions between hosted and unhosted wallets.
According to the report, STR’s strategic analysis by the FIU highlights ongoing risks within the cryptocurrency ecosystem. While the agency acknowledges that the sector offers opportunities for financial innovation and wealth growth, it warns against the misuse of digital assets in serious criminal activities. Reported risks include the use of crypto for hawala practices, illegal gambling, and complex fraud schemes.
"However, VDAs and VDA SPs do carry certain potential risks related to money laundering and terrorist financing due to their global reach, speed of transactions, peer-to-peer transaction capabilities, and the potential for greater anonymity and concealment of transaction details and counterparties," according to the report.
The report also states that the FIU imposed a total penalty of ₹28 crore (approximately $3.1 million) on crypto exchanges that failed to comply with regulations during the fiscal year 2024–25. In October, the regulator issued warnings to 25 crypto exchanges, including BingX, LBank, CoinW, CEX.IO, and Poloniex, for non-compliance with India's anti-money laundering rules.
Despite strict oversight, several major international exchanges have returned to the Indian market. Bybit came back to India after completing registration and paying a fine of $1 million.
Binance is also active in India again in 2024 after paying a fine of $2.2 million. Additionally, Coinbase has again allowed users in India in December and plans to launch a fiat on-ramp in 2026.
At the same time, authorities are taking stronger action against crypto-related fraud. Recently, multiple fraudulent schemes have been stopped, including a ten-year operation that defrauded investors through pyramid schemes promising high returns.