Crypto & NFT businesses are now 'reporting entities' under India’s Prevention of Money-Laundering Act (PMLA). Contrary to some Whatsapp chatter, this does not mean that they are charged under the PMLA for any offence! The implication is that such businesses need to follow similar reporting standards and KYC/AML norms to other reporting entities like banks, securities intermediaries, payment system operators, etc. In other words, KYC norms are no longer a best practice but a legal obligation.

Also, such businesses now have the legal status to report suspicious transactions to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).

Happy to say we had made this recommendation as far back as Dec 2018, and the notification has come exactly under the suggested provision.

An AML regime is the first step towards effective regulation of intermediaries.

It would have been ideal though to have an explicit transitory provision so that covered entities had more time and certainly while getting their compliance processes in place.