Binance Fined More than Rs 18 Crore in India for violating Anti-Money Laundering Regulation

Binance, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the country, has been fined $22.5 lakh (about Rs 18.8 crore) in the country. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) said on Thursday that this fine has been imposed for not complying with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Crypto-related firms have to follow this law for business in the country.

FIU said in a statement that Binance A notice was issued to Binance Exchange on providing services to the citizens of the country without following the PMLA law. In this notice, the exchange was asked why action should not be taken against it for not complying with the duties under this law. Binance gave its reply to this. FIU has said that the allegations against Binance have been found to be true. After this, the Director of FIU has imposed a fine of Rs 18.82 lakh on the exchange using his powers under section 13 of PMLA.

This American exchange has been instructed to ensure that it complies with the country’s PMLA law as soon as possible. There has been no response from Binance in this matter. Recently, Binance’s founder and former chief executive, Changpeng Zhao, was sentenced to four months in prison in the US after being found guilty of money laundering. The exchange was also fined heavily in this case. Changpeng was sentenced by Seattle District Judge Richard Jones in the US. However, the prosecution had demanded a three-year prison sentence for Changpeng.

Binance had violated US anti-money laundering and sanctions laws and did not report more than one lakh suspicious transactions. These included banned terrorist groups like Hamas, Al Qaeda and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Transactions Changpeng had admitted to violating laws related to money laundering. In this case, the exchange agreed to pay a criminal penalty of about $4.32 billion. Changpeng also announced his resignation as the CEO of the exchange. This had a big impact on the crypto market.