India tightens cryptocurrency regulations to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

PANews reported on January 12th that, according to CoinDesk, India's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has announced stricter identity verification measures for cryptocurrency exchanges to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The new regulations require exchanges to verify users' authenticity and vital signs by requiring them to take dynamic blinking selfies, and to accurately record users' geographic coordinates, date, time, and IP address. In addition to providing a Permanent Account (PAN), exchanges must collect additional documents such as passports, driver's licenses, Aadhaar cards or voter ID cards, as well as mobile phone numbers and email addresses. This information will be verified using one-time passwords (OTPs).

User bank account ownership is verified through the "small-amount inflow verification" method, while high-risk customers, those associated with tax havens, Financial Action Task Force (FATF) jurisdictions, potential exposure individuals, or non-profit organizations are subject to enhanced due diligence every six months. Exchanges are prohibited from supporting ICOs or using tools such as coin mixers to conceal transaction traces and make cryptocurrencies untraceable. All platforms must register with the Financial Intelligence Unit, report suspicious transactions, and retain user data for five years. The guidance states that initial coin offerings (ICOs) and initial coin offerings (ICOs) lack a sound economic basis and pose "higher and more sophisticated" risks of money laundering and terrorist financing.