The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is reportedly developing a crypto intelligence tool in response to the rise in illegal activities related to cryptocurrencies in the country.
According to a CNBC report, the MHA aims to combat crypto-related crime through what they called the Cryptocurrency Intelligence and Analysis Tool (CIAT). The project is spearheaded by an MHA division called the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, a unit dedicated to investigating and addressing cybercrime.
With CIAT, the MHA will monitor crypto wallet addresses in the dark net. This will facilitate the compilation of transaction records, including timestamps, dates, exchanges used and which services were done. According to the report, it will also inform the MHA when it detects irregular or unusual crypto activities.
The report highlighted that the project was done in an effort to respond to the rise in crypto-related illegal activities in the country. Earlier this month, an Indian software engineer reportedly lost over $120,000 to crypto fraud. A woman he met online advised the developer to invest in a crypto coin, but was unable to withdraw his fund after depositing it.
In July, two suspects were arrested in an alleged peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto scam in Ujjain, India. The police seized fake bank accounts, ATM cards and other documents. The suspects allegedly used fake IDs to scam users of Binance P2P.
Two Accused In Binance P2P Scam Arrested In Ujjain, India
Two accused of scamming people on #Binance P2P arrested by police in Ujjain, India. Many fake bank accounts, ATM cards and documents are seized from accused
The accused used to buy Fake ID Proofs and personal data… pic.twitter.com/Nt5GxhVmio
— Ajay Kashyap (@EverythingAjay) July 11, 2023
Cointelegraph reached out to the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs but did not get an immediate response.
Related: Indian state governments spur blockchain adoption in public administration
Crypto has been getting significant adoption in India. On Sept. 12, the South Asian country topped the 2023 Global Crypto Adoption Index released by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. The report showed that India was number one in terms of decentralized finance (DeFi) value received and centralized service value received. Nigeria and Thailand closely follow India, according to the index.
Magazine: Sexual Violence in India: Blockchain’s Role in Empowering Survivors
