India’s Home Affairs Ministry is purportedly crafting a tool to gather insights on cryptocurrency, driven by a spike in crypto-related illicit activities within its borders.
A CNBC report reveals that the ministry’s intent is to counteract cryptocurrency crimes with the new Cryptocurrency Intelligence and Analysis Tool (CIAT). Leading this initiative is the ministry’s division, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, which is focused on probing and mitigating cybercrimes.
CIAT’s function will encompass tracking cryptocurrency wallet addresses in the dark web. It will aid in gathering transaction details such as timings, dates, involved exchanges, and the nature of services. The tool is designed to alert the ministry about any suspicious or anomalous cryptocurrency operations.
The tool’s development underscores the recent upswing in crypto-related illicit acts in India. Earlier this month, a story emerged of an Indian software engineer who was swindled out of over $120,000 in a cryptocurrency scam. A lady he met on the internet convinced him to venture into a specific cryptocurrency, and subsequently, he found himself unable to access his invested funds.
This past July, two individuals were detained in Ujjain, India, for their alleged involvement in a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency deceit. Law enforcement confiscated fabricated bank details, ATM cards, and other pertinent documentation. The accused reportedly leveraged fake IDs to dupe users on the Binance P2P platform.
Cryptocurrency adoption has witnessed a considerable surge in India. As of Sept. 12, India clinched the top spot in the 2023 Global Crypto Adoption Index, as published by the blockchain analytics entity, Chainalysis. The index pointed out that India led in both decentralized finance value intake and value received through centralized services. Trailing closely behind India were Nigeria and Thailand in the rankings.
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