The Central Crime Branch (CCB) police on Tuesday arrested the co-founder of a firm that installed India’s first crypto currency
kiosk (
ATM) in Bengaluru on charges of running the business without licence in the city.
The arrested person Harish BV alias BN Vijayakumar is a resident of Rajajinagar and cofounder of Unocoin Technologies. His firm had installed the ATM at a commercial complex on the Old Airport road recently.
The kiosk, which was said to be the first such facility in India, allowed customers to trade in
bitcoin, plus deposit and withdraw cash currency.
Additional Commissioner of Police (crime) Alok Kumar told ET that the arrest was made after consulting the Reserve Bank of India. “It was brought to our notice that
crypto currency kiosk is being installed. During the inquiry, we found that the said co-founder did not have trade licence from the local authority or permission from the RBI,” he said. “We also felt the operators were running the kiosk without any transparency in transactions. There was a high chance of duping investors as the kiosk did not display the day-today valuations of bitcoin,” he added.
During the arrest, the CCB police seized two laptops, one mobile phone, five debit cards, one passport, one crypto currency device and cash of ₹1.79 lakh. Harish was produced before the judicial magistrate and the investigation is on.