One of India’s most prominent crypto exchanges, WazirX, processed as many as 828 requests from global and Indian law enforcement agencies from April, 2022, to September, 2022, according to a report published by the exchange which was reviewed by Medianama. The requests were made against a total of 10 million transactions on the platform and over 700 accounts were blocked during the intervening period, the report added. The exchange clarified that accounts were blocked either by the company (following an internal check) or by a directive from an agency. Why it matters: The report offers critical insights into what kind of regulatory oversight is the crypto industry is subjected to across the world. It offers a snapshot of the nature of crimes being carried out in the crypto industry and how people defraud unsuspecting users. Nature of these requests: The company revealed that 64 requests were from agencies outside India whereas the remaining were made by Indian agencies. It added that the requests pertained to matters where criminal proceedings had been initiated against an accused. The agencies sought information from the exchange to ascertain whether the accused had used the platform to deal in crypto assets. The company claimed that it responded to these requests within 18 minutes on average. The exchange added that it is supposed to respond within 72 hours to such requests. WazirX maintained that it complied with all the requests by providing information to the agencies. It raises concerns about what kind of data has been shared by…
