Digital South Trust Maps 300 Crypto Platforms Accessible to Indian Users Outside the Referenced FIU-IND Registered VDA List

Digital South Trust has completed a research assessment mapping 200 centralised crypto exchanges (CEXs) and 100 decentralised exchange protocols (DEXs) accessible to Indian users.

For the assessment, the reference list of FIU-IND-registered Virtual Digital Asset Service Providers (VDA SPs) was taken from Government disclosures made through Parliamentary Questions & Answers. Platforms mapped by the study were cross-checked against this reference list.

The research recorded 163 of the 300 mapped platforms as directly accessible from Indian IP addresses without requiring a VPN at the time of testing.

Research Methodology

Digital South Trust identified the exchange universe using CoinGecko, CoinMarketCap, DeFiLlama, Elliptic VASP data, regulatory and academic sources, exchange information and Indian crypto-market sources.

Primary website URLs were tested using Indian IP addresses across ISP endpoints in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi.

Platforms were classified as: Directly Accessible | Blocked | VPN Required.

Where ISP-level blocking was identified, additional accessibility testing was conducted using commercial VPN services. The study recorded that approximately 82% of the blocked exchanges tested remained accessible through at least one commercial VPN.

For DEX protocols, the study additionally used publicly available blockchain and market information, including Chainalysis, Elliptic and DeFiLlama data, together with other public sources.

Status Classification

The classification used in the study reflects a comparison between the platforms identified during research and the Government-disclosed list of FIU-IND-registered VDA service providers used as the study's reference point.

DEX protocols were assessed separately because decentralised smart-contract protocols involve different legal, organisational and technical structures.

Shared With Ministry of Finance

Digital South Trust has shared the research findings with the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, for further study, verification and consideration by the competent authorities.

The research covers CEX and DEX accessibility, FIU-registration cross-referencing, INR access pathways, jurisdictional mapping, website accessibility testing and risk classification.