Operators may be running ‘e-ponzi’ schemes in name of cryptocurrencies India catches Bitcoin bug, despite warnings
New Delhi, Dec. 26: It is not only investors who have caught the Bitcoin bug lured by a crazy surge in prices, but also many Indians who are seeing a business potential in cryptocurrencies and rushing to set up companies to cash in on this craze.
At least a dozen companies, including some in past few weeks, have been registered in various parts of the country with ‘Bitcoin’ as part of their names while many more such applications are pending before the Registrars of Companies.
The numbers are even higher for the companies with the word ‘crypto’ in their names, while several others have sought to become more innovative by adding various prefixes to the word ‘coin’, including those proposing Indian versions like ‘IndiCoin’ and ‘BharatCoin’. There is also a ‘SwachhCoin’!
The mad rush — of entrepreneurs and investors — seems to be continuing despite repeated warnings about Bitcoins and their various alternatives operating in a totally unregulated domain and the possible money laundering and terror financing risks associated with such cryptocurrencies.
Various regulators and enforcement agencies are already actively looking into this Bitcoin craze and searches were conducted recently by tax authorities at several places where they are believed to have collected details about lakhs of ‘investors’ who could be trading on ‘Bitcoin exchanges’.
There are concerns that operators might be running ‘e-ponzi’ schemes or illicit money-pooling pyramid activities in the name of cryptocurrencies. Some bogus ones have already been unearthed and are facing police action.
As the regulators and the government departments continue with their probes, which officials at these agencies also described as their efforts to ‘understand’ this new phenomenon, the entrepreneurs seem to be undeterred by any risk factors and expect good business to come by and they are from various parts of the country — from Ghaziabad to Kanpur to Darjeeling to Jaipur to Delhi to Ahmedabad to Mumbai.
The RoC filings made by such companies show diverse business activities they propose to undertake — One has listed ‘retail trade/repair of personal and household goods’, another claims to be in financial intermediary business, while one also claims to promote ‘investigative journalism’.
There are also those offering ‘crypto coins’ exclusively for dentistry across the world with the promise of removing middlemen-type costs and easier insurance claims!
Then, there are also those proposing ‘sex coins’ for discreet payments for adult entertainment and in sex trade. — PTI