Crypto exchange WazirX sees assets unfrozen amid Indian regulator probe

India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) has unblocked the accounts of crypto exchange WazirX, according to the exchange’s update.

The exchange’s bank accounts were frozen after “active cooperation” with the ED via active anti-money laundering (AML) checks that blocked “suspicious accounts,” read today’s announcement.

The exchange, one of India’s largest with a $2.9 million 24-hour trading volumehave had $8.14 million in assets frozen for more than a month.

The economic watchdogs accused exchange of facilitating money laundering”via the purchase and transfer of virtual cryptoassets.” ED’s release as well tired that 16 fintech companies used WazirX to route crypto assets to “unknown foreign wallets”.

Finanstilsynet found during the investigation of the stock exchange that of the 16 suspected companies that allegedly launder money through WazirX, most accounts had already been blocked between 2020 and 2021.

Today’s news comes amid an “ongoing investigation into money laundering of Chinese-owned illegal online gaming applications,” the regulator said back in June. At that time, the ED issued WazirX with an announcement as part of the investigation.

The ED stated that “WazirX clients could transfer ‘valuable’ cryptocurrencies to any person regardless of their location and nationality without any proper documentation whatsoever,” triggering the investigation and further freezing of assets.

WazirX has not yet responded Decryptits request for comment at press time.

Regulator cracks down on WazirX, CoinSwitch

The Indian watchdog has been actively investigating money laundering and other fraudulent crypto activity.

CoinSwitch, another Indian crypto exchange backed by the likes of Coinbase and a16z, was accused of violations of foreign exchange laws and saw five of the locations under investigation in August.

The exchange’s managing director stated that the inquiry about the exchangee was “not about money laundering”, but about daily Know Your Customer (KYC) operations and procedures for introducing new users. At press time, no updates have been made.