The Indian Government and cryptocurrency share a rocky history, to say the least, the height of which was seen in the RBI blanket ban in the year 2018. Though the ban has been repealed since then, with the Supreme Court calling the ban “unconstitutional,” industry level compliance measures will go a long way in gaining the trust of the government, and mass adoption in extension. It’s no secret that cryptocurrencies are rising in popularity over the last few years in India, and thus compliance measures like a thorough vetting of KYCs, PEP screenings, user authentication and onboarding becomes crucial.
Giottus, India’s best rated crypto exchange, has proactively embraced compliance in spite of a lack of clarity regarding regulatory needs in the country. The platform is a torchbearer for the India-based crypto exchanges and is leading the industry to match the compliance levels of nationalized banks.
“With the potential that cryptocurrencies have, it is important that key industry pioneers in India like Giottus act responsibly, embrace compliance and weed out the bad actors. If all the stakeholders in India follow Giottus’ example, the government will show trust in this industry and that it can be regulated within a legal framework.” - Vikram Subburaj, CEO and co-founder, Giottus.
Often, such a proactive stance is costly. Vikram further notes that “Giottus is spending a lot of time and resources to enable these initiatives without being mandated by the Government. Our focus is on bringing the global best practices to Indian crypto ecosystem. This ensures that our customers can trade on our platform worry free.”
The following enlists the multiple ways Giottus ensures compliance on its platform.
Know Your Customer and PEP screening
KYC is one of the most commonly placed compliance measures in exchanges across the world. Special attention has to be taken to screen politically exposed persons, commonly abbreviated as PEP, and ensure that the platform takes proper measures before working with them. Politically Exposed Persons are people in places of power and influence policy decisions and thus more prone to corruption and money laundering activities.
According to SEBI, financial intermediaries in India including stock exchanges, are required to add PEP screening to their KYC compliance policies and ensure that the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financial measures, along with strengthened due diligence to safeguard institutional interests.
As a crypto exchange, Giottus has a responsibility to ensure that the customers using the platform are legit and avoid using it for malicious purposes. KYC measures help the platform to identify the parties behind each transaction and prevent the exchange from being used by criminal elements for money laundering other malicious activities.
Though cryptocurrency is currently “unregulated” and doesn’t fall within a legal framework yet, Giottus has taken the initiative and is proud to be the first platform in India to include PEP screening.
Malicious Transactions
The measures don’t stop at the KYC, as it is important to track malicious transactions and work closely with the regulators to ensure institutional safety. As the leading exchange in India, Giottus sees a huge volume of transactions every single day, making this an extremely challenging job. This process is absolutely necessary to not only meet the needs of the regulating authority but also to succeed in building trust with the users and the community in general.
Giottus understands this and has partnered with Chainalysis, the same compliance solution trusted by the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges and regulatory bodies. With Chainalysis, Giottus have access to the most up-to-date compliance solution, which offers real-time alerts and in-depth investigations, including a full audit trail enabling us to link these suspicious transactions to real-world entities.
Verification and Onboarding
Identity verification and onboarding is a mandatory process for all financial platforms in India for obvious reasons. That being said, this has also become an inconvenience to customers worldwide, as the verification and onboarding process is notorious for delays and mistakes, even in cases of the biggest banks and exchanges.
At Giottus, we fully empathize with these hassles faced by the users and want you to know that we value your time. Partnered with AuthBridge, our KYCs are quick and painless, getting you approved within as little as 10 minutes. AuthBridge is an AI-driven verification and onboarding solution that cuts down on the unnecessary red-tape and optimizes the whole process. That being said, there are no compromises in terms of security checks ensuring the integrity and the safety of the platform.
Giottus, without a doubt, has to be the most compliant exchange in India. We’ve made maximum efforts to ensure that these regulatory and compliance measures don’t hinder the user experience, as we utilize up-to-date technology, thanks to our partners, Chainalysis and AuthBridge.
