New Bitcoin heist, this time in India

mumbai/new delhi — One of India’s biggest cryptocurrency trading platforms has lost about 438 Bitcoins worth some ₹190 million ($3 million), allegedly due to a rogue employee.

An official at Delhi-based Coin secure was extracting Bitcoin to distribute to customers and he claims the funds were lost in the process, parent company Secure Bitcoin Traders said in a statement posted on Coin secure’s website late on Thursday. The system wasn’t hacked or compromised, it said.

“Our Bitcoin funds have been exposed and seemed to have been siphoned out to an address that is outside our control,” the company said. The firm is working toward recovering the money and “we reassure all our customers that you will be indemnified from our personal funds”.

Coin secure’s efforts may be hampered by India’s intensified crackdown on cryptocurrencies. The Reserve Bank of India last week banned regulated entities from providing services to users, holders and traders of cryptocurrencies. “The RBI says they don’t recognise cryptocurrencies, nor does the government,” said Karnika Seth, head of corporate and cyber laws practice at Delhibased Seth Associates.

“So the whole locus of Coin secure can be affected in this case. Their own bonafides will need to be scrutinised.”

Coin secure said its employee Amitabh Saxena may have had a role to play in the heist. Its parent company has filed a complaint with police.