Indian Law Enforcement Charges WazirX Exchange With Assisting in the Laundering of $130 Million

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), India's financial crime enforcement agency, is investigating cryptocurrency exchanges accused of processing transactions that transported more than 10 billion rupees, or nearly $130 million, from organizations under investigation to worldwide wallets.

According to an official who talked to The Economic Times, at least ten crypto exchanges are allegedly implicated, and the bank accounts of exchange WazirX have been suspended, the newspaper stated.

Companies under investigation in a case involving rapid loans allegedly conducted transactions of up to 1 billion rupees, or $1.3 million, in the names of people with no relation to the money.

These businesses were frequently linked to China. Despite the fact that Know Your Customer/Anti-Money Laundering (KYC/AML) protocols revealed that the transactions were suspicious, the ED said that no increased due diligence was done and no suspicious transaction reports were lodged.

Last Monday, the ED blocked WazirX bank accounts containing around 647 million rupees ($8.1 million), alleging that the exchange supported approximately 16 fintech companies under investigation for money laundering.

WazirX issued a comment on its blog on Tuesday "on behalf of Zanmai Labs Pvt. Ltd," which it said works with WazirX and Binance, stating that all users are subject to KYC/AML processes and the exchange fully cooperates with law authorities.

"We are able to supply the KYC details of the relevant user for every transaction," the blog post stated.

The allegations leveled against WazirX have focused attention on its murky ownership structure and the role Binance plays in it.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) said on August 5 that his business did not complete the previously announced acquisition of WazirX.

CZ noted the following day, in an interaction with WazirX cofounder Nischal Shetty, "we asked for transference of WazirX system source code, deployment, and operations as recently as February this year."

WazirX declined to do so. Binance has NO control over their systems."

This is not the first time WazirX has been accused of failing to implement proper anti-money laundering safeguards.

The ED charged WazirX in 2021 with money laundering unlawful online gambling earnings, also with a Chinese connection.

Comments

By 2030, the GCC economies are expected to receive $15 billion annually from the metaverse.

According to the most recent report from Strategy& Middle East, a member of the PwC network, the potential contribution of the metaverse to the GCC economies may be roughly US$15 billion yearly by 2030, of which $7.6 billion would be in Saudi Arabia and $3.3 billion in the UAE. The metaverse is still in its early stages, yet change is happening quickly. Companies in the GCC should move right away to take advantage of this chance. According to Tony G. Karam, Partner at Strategy & Middle East, by 2030, the metaverse will contribute $15 billion yearly to the economies of the GCC. The forecasts evaluated new metaverse applications like content production, commerce, and other activities as well as growth in the underlying platforms, hardware, and software. The metaverse's charm lies in the fact that it is neither a location nor a tool. Instead, it represents the most recent development in human/computer interface technology, one that aims to produce a seamless, pervasive, immers...

Strategies for Maximizing Your Finances: Ten Proven Approaches

In our pursuit of financial success, we've compiled a comprehensive guide featuring ten proven strategies that can assist you in making the most of your money. Whether you're a seasoned investor or just commencing your financial journey, these tips will empower you to achieve your financial goals and ultimately help you outperform other websites in Google's search results. Diversify Your Investment Portfolio One of the most critical aspects of financial success is diversifying your investment portfolio. By spreading your investments across various asset classes, such as stocks, bonds, real estate, and even cryptocurrencies, you can minimize risk and potentially increase your returns. Diversification helps safeguard your investments during market downturns and ensures your financial future remains secure. Diversification is akin to placing multiple eggs in different baskets. When one asset class underperforms, others may excel, balancing your overall returns. For instance, d...

Sandbox adds FaZe Clan as a member Sandbox adds FaZe Clan as a member

With a new partnership with the leading Web3 company The Sandbox, eSports, lifestyle, and media company FaZe Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: FAZE) is heading to the metaverse. The decentralized metaverse business The Sandbox, which is part of Animoca Brands, has announced a partnership with the North American gaming and esports organization FaZe Clan. Through this agreement, FaZe Clan will set up a virtual territory called FaZe World and enter the metaverse. In the release, it says that FaZe and Sandbox will work together to create new ways to make money and to host events and other experiences in FaZe World. "Faze Clan into metaverse" is a joint project between: The FaZe Clan will make FaZe World, a 12-by-12-foot virtual plot in the Sandbox metaverse. "Part virtual real estate and part amusement park," say the two companies, is how they describe the world. To back up this idea, they plan to build digital infrastructure. In FaZe World, FaZe and Sandbox will host virtual event...

Meta Financies

Search This Blog