NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it conducted raids at six premises in Bengaluru in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorised cross-border money transfers worth over Rs 2,500 crore routed through cryptocurrencies, and froze assets worth around Rs 6 crore.
The searches were carried out under provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) at premises linked to five companies — Transak Technology India Private Limited, Carretx Technologies Private Limited, Mokshagna Technologies Private Limited, Buyhatke Internet Pvt. Ltd. and Abhibha Technologies Private Limited — operating under brand names including Transak, Carret, Xpat (formerly Remit2any), Onramp.money and Onmeta.
According to the ED, the firms were providing on-ramp and off-ramp services that enabled users to convert Indian rupees into virtual digital assets such as stablecoins like USDT and vice versa, without authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The agency said none of the entities complied with RBI-mandated requirements such as purpose codes or Foreign Inward Remittance Certificates, despite advertising instant cross-border transfers using cryptocurrencies.
Officials alleged that the investigation also revealed the use of large-volume over-the-counter transactions on Indian crypto trading platforms, shell companies in tax havens and foreign crypto platforms to route funds.
In the case of Mokshagna Technologies, which operates the Xpat platform, the ED alleged that funds collected from US customers were converted into virtual digital assets and routed through India-based platforms before being distributed to recipients, with the primary operator based in the United States.
Regarding Transak Technology, the agency alleged that its US-linked entity Transak Inc. routed operational profits through virtual digital assets to its foreign affiliate wallets without RBI approval.
Carretx Technologies was also accused of facilitating large OTC deals with foreign remittance apps to enable unauthorised inward transfers into India via its mobile application.