CoinSwitch Kuber co-founder and CEO Ashish Singhal has clarified on Twitter that his firm is under the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of India after the ED raided the official premises of cryptocurrency exchanges, directors’ residences as well as Singhal’s residence. cooperating with. Although initial reports indicated that the raids were conducted in connection with the violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) norms, Singhal says that the ED is involved with Coinswitch Kuber to understand the workings of the crypto exchange.
“Enforcement Directorate – Bangalore has engaged with us in this regard. [the] “We are fully cooperating with them,” wrote Singhal.
Crypto is a new asset class. Being in its infancy, crypto is not yet clearly classified in most parts of the world.
Now, the law (in India and elsewhere) is still assessing whether crypto is a “commodity”, “security”, “currency” or something new.
This work is in progress.— Ashish Singhal (@ashish343) 27 August 2022
As reported in some news articles, our association with Enforcement Directorate – Bengaluru was not related to any money laundering investigation under PMLA.
— Ashish Singhal (@ashish343) 27 August 2022
reports from bloomberg And CoinDesk indicated Last week’s searches were related to the country’s foreign exchange methods. Officials in India have been investigating the country’s crypto exchange ecosystem for months.
Singhal did not address the specifics behind the Enforcement Directorate’s actions, but highlighted the still volatile nature of crypto regulation in India.
“Crypto is a new asset class. Being in its infancy, crypto has not yet been clearly classified in most parts of the world. Now, the law (in India and elsewhere) is still assessing whether Is crypto a ‘commodity’, ‘security’, ‘currency’ or something new,” wrote Singhal. “This work is in progress.”
India is not alone. Australia is doing “token mapping” to understand this; In the US, there is an ongoing debate as to whether some cryptos are considered commodities, others securities.
— Ashish Singhal (@ashish343) 27 August 2022
one in saturday reportReuters said that, according to a source with knowledge of the process, financial records were seized during a visit to the office and officials asked questions about “foreign investment, income and outflows to check compliance”.
“CoinSwitch” is committed to building a responsible crypto ecosystem that contributes to the Indian economy, and creates wealth and jobs for millions of Indians, Singhal wrote in a Twitter thread.
CoinSwitch raised $260 million (about Rs 2,076 crore) in Series C funding last October and is backed by venture capital majors including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Tiger Global.
