ED unfreezes WazirX's bank accounts

13 Sep 2022 , 08:00 AM

The WazirX cryptocurrency exchange said in a Monday blog post that the Directorate of Enforcement has unfrozen its bank accounts.

The federal agency looking into money laundering claimed in August that it had searched one of the directors of Zanmai Lab Pvt Ltd, which runs WazirX.

The ED was looking into 16 fintech companies and fast loan apps when it took this step. For allegedly laundering more than Rs1,000 crore from companies charged in the fast loan apps case, the agency is looking into at least ten cryptocurrency exchanges.

According to the company’s blog post, “WazirX found that the majority of the individuals whose information was sought by ED were already identified by WazirX internally as questionable and were blocked in 2020-2021.”

The ED said in its report from August that the exchange “actively” helped about 16 fintech companies under investigation for alleged money laundering to shift their illicit gains through the use of cryptocurrencies.

Separately, in June of last year, the ED requested WazirX to provide an explanation for cryptocurrency transactions totalling Rs2,790.74 crore that it said violated the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

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