Indian Police Seize Unocoin’s ATM, Arrest Two Founders

Several Items Seized

Central Crime Branch sleuths seized a teller machine, two laptops, a mobile, three credit cards, five debit cards, a passport, five seals of Unocoin company, a cryptocurrency device and Rs 1.8 lakh [$2,458].
Founders Arrested

The Bangalore Mirror quoted Alok Kumar, a commissioner with the Bengaluru City Police, elaborating, “They did not have any licence from RBI [Reserve Bank of India], Sebi [Securities and Exchange Board of India] or any other agency to carry out the bitcoin transaction.” He added that the machine was also operated without any trade license from the BBMP, a branch of the government in the Greater Bangalore metropolitan area responsible for civic amenities and some infrastructural assets.The ATM kiosk installed by Unocoin in Bengaluru’s Kempfort Mall has not taken any permission from the state government and is dealing in cryptocurrency outside the remit of the law.
Negative Media Reporting
On Oct. 20, before the police seized its kiosk and arrested its founders, Unocoin tweeted:The mall management became apprehensive after seeing negative media reports, a Unocoin founder told the Times of India. “The reason for panic is because of fake videos on Kannada and English channels. Due to this, our kiosk is not operational. We’ve been trying to actively get these videos pulled down,” the news outlet quoted the founder describing.Our machine didn’t go well with few mainstream media reports who projected it under a negative light. The machine is still under final testing mode and it will be up and running in the upcoming week. The machine has been temporarily moved from its original place of installation.

Cryptocurrency Not Illegal in India
Viswanath previously explained that “it’s perfectly legal for Indians to buy, own or sell bitcoins,” the publication conveyed and quoted him saying:India’s finance minister Arun Jaitley said in his 2018-19 budget speech, “The government does not consider cryptocurrencies legal tender or coin and will take measures to eliminate [the] use of these cryptoassets in financing illegitimate activities.” What do you think of the police seizing Unocoin’s kiosk and arresting the founders? Let us know in the comments section below.We got a lot of bad press after the finance minister announced a ban in February 2018. The minister’s statement was clear: cryptocurrencies are not legal tender in India. He did not say ‘illegal tender’. There’s a huge difference.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Unocoin.
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