The main weapon used by money launders to launder cash is bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies alternatives. India’s cryptocurrency exchanges deployed their own KYC regulations and anti-money laundering protocols for users.
Nishal Shetty, CEO of India’s largest cryptocurrency exchange WazirX said we follow all the necessary protocols such as asking users for ID and address proof like Aadhar and PAN Card. Our platform also emphasizes that money must come from the concerned customers' bank account and not from the third party bank account.
Cryptocurrency exchanges use various procedures to conduct KYC, one such method is penny drop. Penny drop method helps in verifying the user’s personal information and bank details, for example, a token of 10 rupees is transferred to the user’s account to confirm bank account details. This method confirms the account holder’s name as registered with the bank, to the transferor.
Neeraj Khandelwal, co-founder of CoinDCX stated that “for corporate clients who are given higher trading limits, more documents like articles of association, board resolutions authorizing crypto investment, etc. are needed”.
Chainlink is one of the most familiar software among cryptocurrency exchanges which helps in identifying rogue addresses. Khandelwal further stated “we use a globally renowned crypto AML tool to check for blacklisted crypto addresses. If a legitimate user has got crypto from such an address, maybe through peer-to-peer and he or she wants to transact on our exchange, we ask for additional KYC such as source of funds and profession”.
Bitcoins and other cryptos are not held in bank or demat accounts contrary to other financial assets such as stocks, bonds, and FDs. The cold wallet is the method that can be used for holding on to the bitcoins and other cryptos, it is the hardware device or even paper that is not linked to the internet. Therefore, cold wallets cannot be easily seized by law enforcement authorities.
