WazirX resumes banking operations following account unfreeze by ED

After over a month of troubles by India’s Enforcement Directorate, the crypto exchange platform in the country WazirX has reported bank accounts unfreezing. 

According to a Monday’s announcement by the exchange, the financial crime-fighting agency in India has allowed WazirX to resume its banking operations.

One of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in India by trading volume, WazirX, claimed in a statement that the Enforcement Directorate cleared its funds as a result of its active cooperation in the current money laundering probe.

An announcement on the exchange’s website stated that the ED had been looking into 16 fintech firms and Instant lending apps during the previous year, some of which “happened to use the WazirX platform.”

WazirX cooperated with ED

The exchange made it clear that it was unconnected to any of the entities suspected of wrongdoing, but it nonetheless cooperated the authorities by giving them “all the necessary details, information, and documents of the alleged accused companies who used the WazirX platform.”

Following an internal investigation, the company admitted that many of the individuals whose information the ED had requested had already been flagged as suspicious and blocked from the platform.

After Sameer Mahtre, the exchange director, was found to be allegedly involved in helping 16 fintech companies launder criminal money through cryptocurrency channels, the agency froze WazirX’s $8.1 million account.

The investigation is related to the rise of so-called Chinese “illegal loan apps,” which has led to a crackdown on such applications and their Chinese shell companies by the Indian authorities.

The Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank, has been entrusted by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to create a “whitelist” of all authorized apps.