Govt issues notices to 15 offshore crypto firms over alleged PMLA violations

The government has issued notices to 15 offshore cryptocurrency firms over alleged violations of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), according to a report by Deccan Herald. The notices bring renewed scrutiny to crypto businesses operating from outside India while serving users or conducting activity connected to the Indian market.

India’s PMLA is a key anti-money-laundering framework aimed at preventing the use of financial systems for laundering illicit funds. Crypto platforms have drawn increasing regulatory attention globally because digital-asset transactions can move across borders quickly and may involve intermediaries based in multiple jurisdictions.

The report did not identify the firms named in the notices or detail the specific alleged violations. A regulatory notice is an allegation-based enforcement step and does not, by itself, establish that a company has committed a violation.

The development highlights the compliance challenges facing offshore crypto providers, particularly around customer verification, transaction monitoring and reporting obligations. It also signals that authorities may seek to apply anti-money-laundering requirements to crypto-related activity with a domestic connection, even when platforms are headquartered abroad.