Mumbai : Coinsecure, a Delhi-based cryptocurrency exchange, said it has lost 438.318 bitcoins worth nearly Rs 19 crore from its wallet, the biggest reported in the country’s fledging virtual currency market.
The firm has registered a complaint with the Delhi Cyber cell after it was not convinced by the alibi given by its chief security officer (CSO) Amitabh Saxena.
A case has been registered against Saxena and chief executive officer (CEO) Mohit Kalra at the Cyber cell in New Delhi.
“We are running a Bitcoin Exchange platform where the users can buy and sell bitcoins using Indian currency. As a bitcoin exchange we receive deposits in both INR and Bitcoins from our customers who trade on our platform. The user funds are securely kept in our bitcoin wallet, whose private keys are kept with CSO Saxena and CEO Kalra,” the company said in its complaint.
The private keys are required to move cryptocurrency out of bitcoin wallet.
“On April 9, we were informed by Saxena that 438.318 bitcoins worth approximately Rs 19 crore were stolen from our bitcoin wallet due to some attack,” the complaint added.
The firm has assured its customers to ‘indemnify them with its personal funds.’ The cryptocurrency exchange has further alleged Saxena is ‘making false story to divert attention’. “He (Saxena) might have the role to play in the entire incident,” the complaint said. The company has also requested police to impound his passport citing fear that he might fly out of country to evade legal hassle in India. With the help of investigators, Coinsecure is working to recover all the lost funds.
“The investigation done internally to recover any form of data could possibly yield some result if the ‘data logs’ have not been deleted. Also, the police have to get forensic analysis of everything done because there is a chance that sometimes deleted ‘data logs’ are recovered, though the chances of recovery of stolen bitcoins are very less. But if the police investigation and the internal probe of the company go well, there is a chance that the company will get some lead to trace the stolen bitcoins,” Cyber law expert Puneet Bhasin said.