(BTC) Bitcoin News TodayCentral Bank Digital CurrenciesCryptocurrencyCryptocurrency RegulationNewsScamsStablecoinTaxes

Three Indian Crypto Firms Being Probed For A Drug Trade Investigation

The government of India and its security agencies are currently probing three crypto firms for allegedly participating in a drug business. The probe is led by the enforcement directorate and the income-tax department.

So far, the agencies have identified transactions worth up to 28,000 crore rupees ($3.4 billion). According to local media reports, over 200 transactions with Cryptocurrencies have been reportedly discovered by the security agencies handling the probe.

These illegal drug transactions were done between 2019 to 2021 in tax havens like the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands. The reports disclosed that the transactions were all carried out via crypto exchange companies in India, citing inputs from top government workers.

India’s government has conducted many inspections and searches or raids towards crypto exchanges this year concerning the issues of money laundering. Apart from the recent investigation relating to drug trafficking, there has also been a spike in the number of criminal cases surrounding the narcotics trade and cryptocurrency.

In April, India’s government told parliament that it discovered transactions worth around $266,750 in crypto in 11 cases. This is because cryptocurrency gives traffickers good anonymity while avoiding financial regulations.

📰 Also read:  Price Analysis October 15th, 2024 - BTC, BNB, SOL, ETH, and XRP

CBDC and Its Impact On India’s Financial Landscape

Last year, India was on the verge of becoming one of the biggest economies to use a central bank digital currency in the world after the RBI proposed it to the government. This led the central bank to suggest an amendment to the RBI Act of 1934 to expand the meaning of banknote and put money in electronic format. 

A top government official from the Finance Ministry, Pankaj Chaudhary, reacted to the proposal by saying: “RBI has been checking use cases and evaluating a phased implementation strategy for the introduction of Central bank digital currency (CBDC) without disruption.”

By the beginning of next year, India will officially launch its national digital currency (Digi Rupee). Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman gave a hint while presenting the 2022 Budget 2022 earlier this year.  Meanwhile, virtual digital assets like cryptocurrencies, non-fungible or governance tokens, and gaming coins, are not recognized as legal tender in India.

📰 Also read:  'X Empire' Game to Conduct Its Airdrop This Week: Here is Everything You Need to Know

However, the massive growth of the cryptocurrency industry from 17 to 90 million users over March 2021-2022 led the government to take a regulatory step.


Tokenhell produces content exposure for over 5,000 crypto companies and you can be one of them too! Contact at info@tokenhell.com if you have any questions. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Some of the posts on this website are guest posts or paid posts that are not written by Tokenhell authors (namely Crypto Cable , Sponsored Articles and Press Release content) and the views expressed in these types of posts do not reflect the views of this website. Tokenhell is not responsible for the content, accuracy, quality, advertising, products or any other content or banners (ad space) posted on the site. Read full terms and conditions / disclaimer.

📰 Also read:  'X Empire' Game to Conduct Its Airdrop This Week: Here is Everything You Need to Know

Bradley Nelson

Bradley Nelson is a US based cryptocurrency news writer for Tokenhell, he helps readers stay up to date with the latest trends and news from the blockchain and crypto world. Bradley has been a crypto enthusiast since 2018.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button
Close
Skip to content