This seizure sets a precedent for India’s fight against crypto-enabled financial crimes, signaling tighter scrutiny of DeFi projects and cross-agency collaboration to trace illicit flows across chains like Binance Smart Chain and Solana. Between November 2016 and January 2018, BitConnect operators lured global investors, including Indians, with promises of 40% monthly returns via a proprietary “volatility software trading bot” (Trading Bot). In a significant crackdown on one of India’s largest cryptocurrency frauds, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized digital assets valued at ₹1,646 crore linked to the now-defunct BitConnect lending program. The operation, conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), marks a significant milestone in India’s efforts to combat financial crimes in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. ED’s cyber forensics team decoded transactions across 12,000+ wallets, identifying cold storage devices hidden in Gujarat. Cyber Security News is a Dedicated News Platform For Cyber News, Cyber Attack News, Hacking News & Vulnerability Analysis. Kaaviya is a Security Editor and fellow reporter with Cyber Security News. Smart Contract Honeypots: Malicious code restricting withdrawals beyond threshold amounts, mimicking techniques like Hidden State Updates and Map Key Encoding Tricks. The U.S. SEC’s parallel investigation into Kumbhani’s $22,500 crore global scam remains ongoing, with Interpol coordinating asset restoration discussions. She is covering various cyber security incidents happening in the Cyber Space. The scam’s architects, including founder Satish Kumbhani—currently facing a 70-year prison term in the U.S.—used a multi-layered laundering network.
This Cyber News was published on cybersecuritynews.com. Publication date: Tue, 18 Feb 2025 10:50:12 +0000