Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has been instrumental in aiding the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of India to dismantle a $47.6 million gambling scam associated with the Fiewin app.
The scam involved the enticement of victims into online betting and gambling, with the promise of effortless profits, only to subsequently seize their funds.
Binance’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) provided critical information that facilitated the trace of funds and the exposure of the fraud network, as indicated in a press release that was shared with Cryptonews.com.
Binance Plays a Key Role in Uncovering Scam
The ED, India’s primary financial crime investigation agency, disclosed that the collaboration with Binance was instrumental in identifying the digital wallets implicated in the fraud.
According to Ferdinando D., a Binance Investigation Specialist co-working on this case with the ED, “This case demonstrates the critical importance of collaboration between public institutions like the ED and private entities like Binance in addressing the new types of digital threats.”
The ED and Binance have not disclosed whether the $47.6 million has been recovered.
The collaboration follows Binance’s registration as one of the few foreign exchanges with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit earlier this year, which served as a form of informal recognition in a nation where cryptocurrency remains largely unregulated.
Binance and the ED collaborated in a similar endeavor last year to freeze millions associated with another gaming app scam, E-Nuggets, as part of a money laundering investigation.
India’s position regarding cryptocurrencies has been ambiguous.
The decline in the cryptocurrency market made the transition of Indian merchants to foreign exchanges and the imposition of strict crypto taxes in 2022 detrimental to the local crypto industry.
Nevertheless, trading volumes returned to Indian exchanges following the prohibition of offshore entities.
India has prioritized attaining global consensus on formulating crypto policies as part of its G20 presidency in 2023.
Binance experiences a 40% increase in institutional Investors
This year, Binance witnessed a substantial increase in institutional and corporate investors joining its platform.
During the Token2049 conference in Singapore, CEO Richard Teng disclosed a 40% increase in such investors throughout 2024 in an interview with CNBC’s Lin Lin.
Teng stated that the trend is only commencing, implying that institutions’ allocation of funds to crypto is merely the tip of the iceberg.
He clarified that numerous institutional investors are still undertaking due diligence before committing to the crypto sector.
Teng, who assumed the CEO role in November 2023, stated that the enrollment increase indicates the increasing confidence of major investors in cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and other digital assets.
It is imperative to emphasize that Binance has encountered an intensifying level of regulatory scrutiny on a global scale.
Binance was accused of operating an unlawful digital asset derivatives exchange and violating federal laws by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last year.
Similarly, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Binance Holdings LTD and its former CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), with operating unregistered exchanges, broker exchanges, clearing houses, and the unregistered offer and sale of securities.
