Bybit Fintech Limited (Bybit) has been slapped with a fine of Rs 9.27 crore for Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) violations. The Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) has imposed a total penalty of Rs 9,27,00,000 on Bybit “with reference to the violations of its obligations under the PMLA”.
Bybit kept on expanding its services in India without getting registered with the FIU-IND, as per the agency.
“The persistent and continuous non-compliance caused FIU-IND to block their websites to stop operations under the Information Technology Act, 2000 through the Ministry of Electronics and Communication Technology (MEITY),” said the Finance Ministry.
FIU-IND had issued Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Guidelines for Reporting Entities offering Services related to virtual digital assets on March 10, 2023.
And a detailed circular on registration of Virtual Digital Asset Service Providers as reporting entities was issued on October 17, 2023.
After considering the written and oral submissions made by Bybit, FIU-IND found Bybit guilty of the charges.
Earlier this month Bybit had announced a temporary suspension of services for Indian users
In 2023, the government brought crypto businesses under PMLA and asked them to report suspicious transactions and do customer due diligence etc. Later all virtual digital asset service providers were asked to register as reporting entities with FIU.
Last year Binance paid Rs 18.82 crore to the agency and resumed operations in India after getting registered.
