The Enforcement Directorate has searched premises linked to Mudrex, Saber.money, Instadapp and Fluid, alleging that stablecoins were used to route unauthorised cross-border payments.
India’s Enforcement Directorate has widened its scrutiny of crypto-linked money flows, opening a fresh investigation into alleged foreign exchange violations involving Mudrex, Saber.money, Instadapp and its Fluid platform. According to the agency, its Bengaluru office searched four premises on October 27, including locations in Bengaluru and Madhya Pradesh, as part of a probe under Section 37 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act. The case centres on claims that cryptocurrencies, especially stablecoins such as USDT and USDC, were used to move money across borders outside authorised channels.
The ED said its preliminary findings point to alleged FEMA breaches of more than ₹4,600 crore in relation to Mudrex and Saber.money, and about $40 million, or roughly ₹380.6 crore, in the Instadapp and Fluid matter. In a statement posted on X, the agency said it had identified shell entities in tax-haven jurisdictions, large over-the-counter trades and foreign payouts routed through crypto platforms including Binance and Bybit.
The regulator has also named Bengaluru-based RPFAS Technologies, which operates Mudrex and Saber.money, as a key entity in the inquiry. It alleged that the platforms were openly promoting instant cross-border transfers through cryptocurrencies without Reserve Bank of India authorisation. The ED said the services included on-ramp and off-ramp facilities, allowing users to move between traditional currencies such as rupees, dollars and euros and digital assets before withdrawing funds into bank accounts.
In a separate line of inquiry, the agency examined Instadapp, a decentralised finance protocol built on Ethereum, and Fluid, its associated platform. According to the ED, related entities were incorporated in foreign jurisdictions including the United States, Singapore, the British Virgin Islands and Dubai, but were effectively managed from India. The agency alleged that some of those entities had no real offices or staff at their registered addresses, and that money from overseas investors was channelled through foreign accounts before being brought into India to meet expenses and other payments.
The new action marks the second time in recent months that the ED has publicly detailed similar allegations. In June, it searched premises linked to five Bengaluru-based platforms, including Transak, Carret, Xpat, Onramp.money and Onmeta, over suspected unauthorised cross-border crypto transfers. In that case, the agency said it froze bank accounts holding around ₹6 crore and alleged that the firms had bypassed FEMA by using stablecoins to route remittances outside the authorised system. Cryptocurrencies remain unregulated in India, though they are subject to a 30% capital gains tax and a 1% tax deducted at source on each transaction. Last month, a parliamentary standing committee on finance described the asset class as high risk, citing concerns over money laundering, trafficking, radicalisation and suspicious transactions.
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