India Tightens KYC and AML Requirements to Onboard New Crypto Users

India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has issued new guidelines significantly tightening Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations for onboarding new cryptocurrency users onto exchanges. These rules require regulated exchanges to verify users via live selfie pictures, verified against deep fakes using eye and head movement tracking software, and mandate the collection of geolocation data and IP addresses at account creation, along with timestamps. Exchanges must also verify user bank accounts via a small transaction and require users to submit additional government-issued photo identification and verify mobile numbers and emails. This regulatory tightening reflects India's cautious stance toward digital assets, despite its massive potential market. Concurrently, officials from India’s Income Tax Department (ITD) argued to lawmakers that cryptocurrencies and DeFi platforms undermine tax collection due to their decentralized, cross-border nature, complicating tax enforcement under the existing 30% tax rate on crypto gains.

(Source：Cointelegraph)