Indian cryptocurrency trade Mudrex briefly suspended crypto withdrawals till January 28, citing the necessity to improve its compliance framework.
Mudrex CEO Edul Patel defined the choice as a proactive measure to forestall misuse of the platform by dangerous actors. “If the infrastructure is just not appropriate, it is extremely simple for it to be misused for nefarious actions,” mentioned Patel.
The announcement led to heated discussions on-line, with crypto dealer Vivan Stay warning customers on X to withdraw their funds instantly. One other person, Aakash Athawasya, questioned Mudrex’s intentions, accusing the trade of solely providing worth publicity reasonably than possession of crypto belongings.
Mudrex has been rising quick, with its person base leaping 200% in a yr to a few million and buying and selling quantity hovering 20x in December 2024 to $200 million.
The pause in withdrawals comes amid heightened regulatory scrutiny in India, which already pressured some exchanges to cut back operations. As an example, Bybit introduced on January 12 that it will limit companies in India, together with crypto buying and selling and account openings, attributable to regulatory circumstances.
In distinction, competitor CoinDCX lately launched crypto withdrawal performance, beginning with 1.5 million customers within the first part of its rollout. Nonetheless, customers enabling crypto withdrawals on CoinDCX should completely disable Indian rupee deposit performance, although rupee withdrawals stay operational.
India’s Monetary Intelligence Unit (FIU) is reportedly evaluating purposes from 4 extra offshore crypto exchanges to renew operations within the nation, after beforehand banning them for non-compliance with Anti-Cash Laundering (AML) rules.
Following the current approvals of Binance and KuCoin, not less than two extra exchanges are anticipated to obtain clearance by the top of the fiscal yr 2025. This might comply with a radical assessment of transaction transparency, suspicious exercise reporting, and associated compliance measures.
Earlier in 2024, the FIU blocked entry to 9 overseas crypto exchanges, together with Binance, attributable to AML non-compliance. Binance and KuCoin have since registered with the FIU, whereas OKX halted its operations totally, citing regulatory challenges. Binance registered as a reporting entity with the FIU in August after reportedly paying a $2 million penalty.
