India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) says a probe into more than ₹5,000 crore of crypto transfers, about $527 million at Friday’s exchange rate, found foreign payouts made through platforms including Binance and Bybit. The agency, which polices India’s foreign-exchange and money-laundering laws, says the transfers crossed the border without authorization.

The ED’s Bengaluru office searched four premises, three in Bengaluru and one in Madhya Pradesh, on Oct. 27, according to a press release the agency attached to its X post on Oct. 29. According to the post, the probe turned up “shell entities in tax haven countries,” “massive OTC deals” and “illegal foreign payouts via platforms like Binance and Bybit.” The ED makes no allegation against either exchange.

The searches were carried out under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), which treats violations as civil matters punishable by penalties. Money-laundering cases fall under a separate law.

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An Earlier Bengaluru Case

The October searches follow a separate case from the same office. On June 17, ED Bengaluru searched six premises linked to crypto payment and remittance firms, including Transak Technology India and Buyhatke Internet, over more than ₹2,500 crore in alleged FEMA violations, and froze about ₹6 crore in bank accounts, according to a Free Press Journal report at the time.

Companies Named in the Release

The release names RPFAS Technologies Private Limited, a Bengaluru company that runs the Mudrex and Saber.money platforms, as one focus of the probe. The ED said the company bought and sold crypto on foreign platforms including Binance and Bybit, and put its preliminary estimate of FEMA contraventions, from unauthorized cross-border transfers and crypto balances held on foreign platforms, at more than ₹4,600 crore.

A Mudrex representative told ThePrint in an email that the company believes its “operations comply with applicable laws and regulations” and that its “platform continues to operate normally, and user funds remain secure.”

The release also names DeFi protocol Instadapp, which the ED said in the release “now operates largely under the name” Fluid. The agency put the FEMA contraventions it alleges in the Instadapp case at about $40 million, a preliminary figure. Instadapp and Fluid had not commented publicly on the release as of Friday.

The ED announced no arrests, charges or seizures. Neither Binance nor Bybit had commented publicly on the agency’s statement as of Friday afternoon.

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