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Belated, but essential: On bringing all trade in virtual digital assets under the PMLA
March 11, 2023 12:20 am | Updated 08:10 am IST The Finance Ministry’s March 7 notification placing all transactions involving virtual digital assets under the purview of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is a much-needed, even if belated, step. Last month, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed the Lok Sabha that the Enforcement Directorate was ‘investigating several cases related to cryptocurrency frauds wherein a few crypto exchanges had been found involved in money laundering’. And that as much as ₹936 crore had been attached or frozen as on January 31, on being deemed to be proceeds of crime. The decision to mandatorily bring all trade in virtual digital assets under the PMLA now lays the onus of ascertaining the provenance of all activity, including safekeeping, in such assets upon individuals and businesses participating in or facilitating these transactions. India, which holds the presidency of the G-20, has been repeatedly stressing the need for a globally coordinated regulatory response to deal with crypto assets. While the Centre’s decision to add the PMLA monitoring requirements, following the introduction of a tax regime for virtual digital assets in last year’s Budget, has been interpreted by the crypto assets sector as moves towards regulating rather than proscribing it, the RBI’s consistent advocacy for a ban needs to be seriously weighed before any decision is taken on the fate of the long-delayed draft legislation on virtual assets. Source - Hindu.com
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