What FIU registration means: 'reporting entity under the PMLA' for a crypto exchange, and for you

FIU registration means a crypto platform has registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit of India (FIU-IND) as a "reporting entity" under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). Since a government notification of 7 March 2023, any business that exchanges, transfers or safekeeps virtual digital assets for others is covered by the PMLA. It must verify its customers' identity, keep transaction records, report suspicious and specified transactions to FIU-IND, and appoint officers responsible for compliance.

For you as a user, it means three things. You will have to complete KYC with your PAN and Aadhaar. Your transactions are recorded and can be reported. And the platform is inside India's anti-money-laundering system rather than outside it. What it does not mean is that crypto is approved, insured or protected. Registration is about money-laundering rules, not about protecting your investment.

Why Unocoin uses this exact phrase

If you read Unocoin's site, you will see one phrase repeated: "registered with FIU-IND as a reporting entity under the PMLA". Never "regulated". Never "approved". Never a word that suggests a licence.

That is deliberate. I co-founded Unocoin in 2013, and our rule from the start was to never be offside, including in how we describe ourselves. Crypto in India is unregulated as an asset. There is no crypto licence. The accurate description of what a compliant Indian platform has is exactly that phrase, so that is the phrase we use. When you see a platform describe itself in bigger words, that is worth noticing.

The March 2023 notification

On 7 March 2023, the Ministry of Finance issued notification S.O. 1072(E). It brought certain VDA activities under the PMLA as a "designated business or profession". Anyone carrying on those activities for or on behalf of another person, in the course of business, became a reporting entity under section 2(1)(wa) of the PMLA.

Before that, Indian crypto platforms did KYC because it was good practice and because banks expected it. After March 2023, it became a legal duty under the anti-money-laundering law. FIU-IND issued anti-money-laundering and counter-terror-financing guidelines for VDA service providers shortly afterwards, in March 2023. In November 2023, notification S.O. 4877(E) designated FIU-IND as the authority supervising these anti-money-laundering obligations for VDA service providers.

The five activities it covers

The notification lists five activities:

1. Exchange between virtual digital assets and fiat currencies, such as buying Bitcoin with rupees.
2. Exchange between one or more forms of virtual digital assets, such as swapping one crypto for another.
3. Transfer of virtual digital assets.
4. Safekeeping or administration of virtual digital assets, or instruments enabling control over them.
5. Participation in and provision of financial services related to an issuer's offer and sale of a virtual digital asset.

If a business does any of these for customers, it is covered. That includes most exchanges and apps you would use to buy Bitcoin in India.

What a reporting entity must do

Under the PMLA framework, a reporting entity has core duties:

• Know its customers. Verify the identity of customers and beneficial owners, with enhanced due diligence in specified cases.
• Keep records. Maintain records that allow each transaction to be reconstructed, for five years.
• Report. Furnish transaction information and suspicious transaction reports to FIU-IND.
• Appoint responsible people. A Designated Director and a Principal Officer accountable for compliance.
• Cooperate. Assist authorities such as the Enforcement Directorate when required.

FIU-IND's guidelines for VDA service providers have since grown more detailed. In general terms, registered platforms are expected to make PAN mandatory, use stronger identity checks at onboarding, collect information on transfers, and avoid facilitating tools designed to hide transactions. Registration itself goes through FIU-IND's process before a platform receives its reporting entity ID.

It applies even if the platform is offshore

FIU-IND has made clear that these obligations are activity-based. They do not depend on whether the business has an office in India. If a platform serves Indian users in these five activities, it is expected to register.

That is why FIU-IND has issued notices to offshore platforms that served Indian users without registering, and why several were blocked or penalised. Binance was fined ₹18.82 crore in June 2024 and Bybit ₹9.27 crore in January 2025, both under section 13 of the PMLA. The ground was non-compliance with these obligations.

What it means for you as a user

• KYC is not optional. On a registered platform, you will verify PAN and Aadhaar before trading. Do this inside the app or website only. Never send documents over WhatsApp, and never share OTPs.
• Your transactions are recorded. Records are kept for years and can be reported to FIU-IND. Separately, tax rules mean 1% TDS shows in your Form 26AS and AIS, and exchanges report more detail under the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework from 2026. Your ITR should match.
• You are dealing with a known entity. A registered platform has a legal name, named officers and a place inside India's legal system. If something goes wrong, there is at least someone accountable to find.
• Questions about your source of funds are normal. Enhanced checks are part of the law, not an accusation.

What it does not mean

This is the part that matters most, and the part some marketing blurs.

• It is not RBI approval. FIU-IND registration is about anti-money-laundering law. The RBI does not approve crypto platforms.
• It is not a licence to run an investment business. There is no crypto licence in India.
• It is not protection for your money. Registration does not insure your holdings or guarantee a platform against hacks or failure.
• It does not make crypto regulated. Crypto remains unregulated as an asset. As the ASCI disclaimer says, crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky, and there may be no regulatory recourse for any loss.

So treat registration as a minimum, not a recommendation. It tells you the platform is playing by the anti-money-laundering rules. It does not tell you how well it protects your coins. For that, you need to look further: how long it has operated, what it says about where assets are held, whether you can withdraw to your own wallet, and whether its support ever asks for codes it should not.

How many platforms are registered

FIU-IND publishes the list of registered VDA service providers on its website. Fifty were registered as of October 2025. In July 2026, the RBI told Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance that there were 54 FIU-registered service providers serving 39.3 million KYC-verified users.

When you check the list, match the legal entity name, not just the app name. Unocoin's legal entity is Unocoin Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

If a platform asks you for more documents

Sometimes a registered platform asks for extra information: proof of address, the source of a large deposit, or a fresh selfie. That can feel intrusive. It is usually the enhanced due diligence the law requires in specified cases, not an accusation.

Two rules keep you safe. First, upload documents only inside the official app or website, never by email to an address you did not find yourself and never on WhatsApp. Second, the request will never include your OTP, your password or your seed phrase. If it does, it is not your platform asking.

To see how Unocoin's registration is described, and the other checks you can run on any platform, read is Unocoin safe. For the history of how the industry got here, read the Supreme Court story.

Keep reading

Sources

• Taxmann on PMLA notification S.O. 1072(E)
• AZB & Partners on PMLA obligations for VDAs
• Tsaaro on FIU-IND guidelines and S.O. 4877(E)
• Drishti IAS on activity-based obligations
• FIU-IND Binance order
• FIU-IND Bybit order
• MediaNama on 50 registered providers (Oct 2025)
• Cryptopolitan on RBI testimony
• Is Unocoin safe page