India was reported to be building a global database of cryptocurrency exchanges to help law enforcement track crypto-related crime, including money laundering, drug trafficking, and terror financing. An Economic Times report said a senior Financial Intelligence Unit official expected the database to be operating worldwide by the end of the fiscal year and available to enforcement agencies. The initiative was described as part of a broader regulatory and intelligence push that also includes the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), which aims to standardize the automatic exchange of tax information on crypto transactions. According to the report, Indian authorities were also seeking information from other countries about exchanges operating on the dark web, which are difficult to trace and are often used for illicit activity. The Ministry of Home Affairs was said to be involved because of concerns about cryptocurrency use in drug trafficking and other cross-border crimes, while the Financial Intelligence Unit had already identified large volumes of illicit crypto-facilitated drug transactions. This matters because a shared exchange database would give investigators a stronger way to follow cross-border crypto flows and could increase compliance pressure on exchanges and related service providers.

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