BENGALURU: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at three locations in Bengaluru and one in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday while investing into the alleged unauthorised cross-border financial transactions involving cryptocurrencies worth around Rs 5,000 crore.
The searches were carried out by the ED’s Bengaluru Zonal Office under Section 37 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999, following complaints alleging large-scale violations by city-based RPFAS Technologies Private Limited, which operates the platforms Mudrex and Saber.money.
ED said its preliminary enquiries and intelligence gathering indicated the alleged use of cryptocurrencies, particularly stablecoins such as USDT and USDC, to facilitate cross-border transfers of money while bypassing authorised remittance channels. The ED suspects that such transactions enabled the transfer of funds across countries without complying with applicable FEMA provisions.
The agency also found indications of the alleged use of shell entities in tax-haven jurisdictions, large over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency transactions and foreign payouts routed through platforms such as Binance and Bybit.
ED also said the entity allegedly advertised services offering rapid cross-border money transfers using cryptocurrencies despite not being authorised by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate such a payment system.
The platforms reportedly offered services to buy, sell, swap and convert conventional currencies into cryptocurrencies and back, facilitating the movement of funds across international borders.
The investigation is also examining the platforms’ on-ramp and off-ramp services. On-ramp services allow users to convert conventional currencies, such as the Indian rupee, US dollar or euro, while off-ramp services enable users to sell these assets and withdraw the proceeds into bank accounts.
The ED is investigating whether these facilities were used to transfer funds across borders outside authorised banking and remittance channels, in alleged violation of FEMA regulations.
