India’s Federal Agency ED Froze Crypto Exchange Vauld’s Assets Worth $4.6 Million

India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) froze assets amounting to $46 Million belonging to Vauld which is a cryptocurrency exchange. In Vauld’s press release, the company stated that it disagreed with the claims made by ED on Vauld’s KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) procedures.

These assets seized by the ED were found stored in bank accounts, payment gateway balances and wallets too on the Flipvolt crypto exchange. The $46 Million was linked to the instant loan apps case. Flipvolt is the Indian wing of the Singaporean exchange Vauld.

The crypto lender has mentioned that ED had given a green signal to freeze the assets despite its full cooperation, in correlation to the statement that has been released recently,

We, like several other players offering crypto services in India, had received summons from the Enforcement Directorate, Hyderabad, India in the month of July 2022, seeking certain information/documents. In due compliance with the summons, we fully cooperated with the Enforcement Directorate and provided all the required information/documents.

After WazirX, ED Inspects Crypto Lender Vauld In Relation To Money Laundering

The ED had carried out searches at multiple premises of Yellow Tune Technologies Private Limited in Bangalore after which it issued an order to freeze Vauld’s bank balances. While conducting the investigation, the ED had discovered funds of close to $46 Million (370 Crore INR) that was deposited.

This deposit happened through 23 entities which included the accused NBFCs and also their fintech firms, the amount was deposited into the INR wallet of Yellow Tune Technologies Pvt Ltd with Crypto Exchange Flipvolt Technologies Pvt Ltd.

According to the India’s federal agency, the frozen money is the proceeds of crime derived from illegal lending practices. Enforcement Directorate has been conducting these raids at multiple premises.

These premises belong to the Bengaluru-based Yellow Tune Technologies, the raids were conducted in relation to the investigation concerning the entities who were suspected to be carrying out fraudulent practices through instant loan apps. The investigation hasn’t come to stop just yet and further probe can be still expected.

What Is India’s Federal Agency Saying About The Crypto Lender

ED has further spoken about this investigation and mentioned that as many as 23 NBFCs (Nonbank Financial Companies) along with fintech firms will be diverting the funds to the tune of $46 Million into the INR wallets of Yellow Tune which is Vauld’s Indian arm.

Further the ED mentioned,

…equivalent movable assets to the extent of INR 367.67 Crore lying with Flipvolt crypto exchange in the form of bank and payment gateway balances worth INR 164.4 Cr and crypto assets lying in their pool accounts worth INR 203.26 Cr, are frozen under PMLA(Prevention of Money Laundering Act), 2002, till complete fund trail is provided by the crypto-exchange