Twenty seven cryptocurrency exchanges are under the MHA scanner over a Rs 623 crore scam, being called “one of the most sophisticated financial laundering models yet” in the country.
At least 27 cryptocurrency exchanges are under the Home Ministry scanner over a Rs 623 crore scam, in what investigators are calling one of the “most sophisticated money laundering model yet” to emerge from the country’s cyberfraud ecosystem, a report states.
According to report by the Indian Express, crypto exchanges such as Coin DCX, WazirX, Giottus, ZebPay, Mudrex, and CoinSwitch, have been flagged by the MHA as channels used by cyber criminals to launder the money.
As per the report, the funds were siphoned off from 2872 victims over a period of 21 months, from January 2024 to September 2025.
As per officials cited by the report, the victims had used fake trading or investment apps to invest their funds, unaware that their money was being converted into digital assets, and “layered through dozens of wallets”.
The MHA’s Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has now shared an internal list of these crypto exchanges, or Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), with enforcement agencies and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Finance Ministry.
Officials also say that these crime proceeds may just be the tip of the iceberg.
When asked for a comment, CoinSwitch “categorically” denied that any such “transfers” occurred on its platform, saying that it “operates within a fully ringfenced and compliant environment designed to prevent any misuse”.
CoinDCX said it was “bound by strict confidentiality obligations and therefore cannot disclose case-specific details” but added that the platform used advanced security protocols such as multi-signature and multi-party computation (MPC) wallets to ensure safe handling of seized assets.
Several others added that a crypto platform is not a party “beyond facilitating lawful trade” to any transaction between individuals.
Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Giottus crypto platform, said, “If a person with a criminal background were to order food on Swiggy or hail a cab through Ola, it would not make those platforms complicit in any crime that he has committed or would commit. The same principle applies to all FIU-registered crypto exchanges. A lot of proceeds of crime get transferred through banks as well. However, the banks are not party to any crime.”
