- India’s FIU bans trading, deposits, and withdrawals of privacy coins to strengthen AML and counter-terrorism measures.
- Traders may need to move Monero, Zcash, and Dash to other platforms as exchanges adjust to new rules.
- Prices briefly bounced despite the ban, but weekly losses remain steep for all three privacy coins.
India has told crypto exchanges to stop trading privacy coins like Monero, Zcash, and Dash immediately. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) says this step is to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.
Exchanges must immediately stop trading, deposits, and withdrawals for the affected coins. Even as India builds a bigger crypto rulebook, this move shows it’s taking a tougher stance on coins that hide transactions.
The FIU said privacy coins’ extra anonymity makes it harder to monitor money flows. Regulators worry because Monero, Zcash, and Dash use advanced ways to hide transaction history. Exchanges that don’t follow the rules risk fines or even losing their license.
Officials explained that India wants transparency in crypto transactions and aims to track activity within its financial systems. So, the focus is on following the rules rather than banning crypto completely.
Operational and Market Impacts
Exchanges in India must quickly disable affected trading pairs and manage user balances. Traders holding privacy coins may need to transfer assets to other platforms, considering legal constraints. This directive requires immediate operational adjustments, and clear communication with users becomes critical. Additionally, platform developers must ensure AML protocols align with new FIU requirements.
Market prices for these privacy coins shown short-term resiliency in the face of legislative pressure. At $524, Monero was up 3.5% over the previous day. Dash increased 11.6% throughout that time, while Zcash increased 2.2% to $372.
Weekly trends are still negative, though, with losses of about 20% for Dash, 8% for Zcash, and 21% for Monero. As a result, dealers operate in a volatile environment as India strikes a balance between continued participation in the cryptocurrency market and regulatory monitoring.
