Police in the Indian city of Bangalore in Karnataka October 23, confiscated cryptomath company Unocoin and arrested its founder haritha B V (B V Harish) on charges of illegal activities and the installation of “illegal kiosk”. He had seized two laptops, a mobile phone, five debit cards, three credit cards, a passport, five seals of the company and 170,000 rupees. This is reported by local media.
After his arrest, Harish was taken to the court, who ordered to keep him in detention for seven days. Authorities report that this arrest is likely to be followed by others.
Commenting on the arrest of colleagues, co-founder of Unocoin Sathvik Vishwanath said that the sale and purchase of bitcoins in India is absolutely legal. In particular, he referred to the words of the Minister of Finance, delivered in February 2018. Vishwanath said:
The Minister said that cryptocurrencies are not in India is legal tender. Notice, he never said they were illegal. It’s a big difference. This means that anyone who invests in bitcoins, do so at their own risk, and legislation in respect of such transactions.
Visvanatha had in mind the speech of the Finance Minister Arun Jetley dedicated budget for 2018-2019. Jetley said that the government does not consider cryptocurrencies legal tender or currency. He also promised to eradicate the use of cryptocurrency in the financing of illegal activities.
It is noteworthy that the withdrawn police cryptomath Unocoin, installed in the shopping centre on Old Airport Road in Bangalore, was not functioning. Sources in Unocoin promised that he will soon earn.
Sathvik Vishwanath explained the confiscation of cryptomate and the arrest of haritha “negative reviews in the media.” According to him, the journalists were spreading false information, which the management of the shopping center “panicked”. He says he intends to seek from journalists removal of unauthentic materials.
Source
