Delhi-based crypto-currency exchange boss siphons off Rs19 crore in funds
14 Apr 2018
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In a strange twist, just a week after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) banned banks from dealing in crypto-currencies, the chief strategy officer of a leading exchange has siphoned off with Bitcoins worth Rs19 crore.
Delhi-based Coinsecure claims that its Bitcoin funds have been exposed and siphoned off. Access to the Bitcoin wallet are held by the CEO, Mohit Kalra, and the CSO, Amitabh Saxena.
The company’s press release claims that its system has never been compromised or hacked and the current issue points towards losses caused during an exercise to extract BTG to distribute to customers.
Saxena was extracting BTG and “he claims that funds hvae been lost in the process during the extraction of private keys,” says the company.
The FIR filed with the Delhi police claims that Saxena was making up “a false story” to divert attention and he might have had a role to play in the offense. The company has asked the authorities to seize Saxena’s passport to prevent him from leaving the country.
The company also claims that its INR funds are safe. “We are also seeking help from the Bitcoin community and all our users who can help us identify the hacker or give us any information that could lead us to recover funds,” it says.
Interestingly, except for two letters addressed to its users (dated April 12 and April 13), the company’s web site is also not accessible now. Conisecure has over 200,000 users, of whom more than 10,000 have been affected by the theft.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley had earlier declared Bitcoins and other virtual currencies as illegal and compared them to Ponzi schemes.
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