Cryptocurrency exchange Coinsecure puts Rs 2 crore bounty to recover lost bitcoins

Days after reporting the country's biggest bitcoin theft, India-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinsecure has announced around Rs 2 crore reward for anyone who helps the trading firm recover the lost digital currency. In a update on its website, Coinsecure said: "We are seeking help from the Bitcoin community and all our users who can help us identify the hacker or give us any information that could lead us to recover funds."

Earlier this week, Coinsecure registered an FIR with the Cyber Cell of Delhi Police in which it claimed to have lost 438.318 bitcoins worth Rs 20 crore from the company's wallet. In the complaint, the exchange blamed its CSO Amitabh Saxena for playing role in multi-crore heist. To recover the lost bitcoins, Coinsecure in a statement said: "We are happy to issue a bounty of 10 per cent  to the community for help rendered for recovery of BTC." The exchange also assured the investors that their funds with the company were safe. The company will inform the users over the next week on how the withdrawals can be requested and processed.

In its earlier statement, Coinsecure had informed about how it lost the bitcoins. It said: "Our system itself has never been compromised or hacked, and the current issue points towards losses caused during an exercise to extract BTG to distribute to our customers. Our CSO Dr Amitabh Saxena was extracting BTG and he claims that funds have been lost in the process during the extraction of the private keys."

However, the company did not find Amitabh Saxena convincing and asked the Delhi Police to probe him. In an FIR to Delhi Police, it said: "As the private keys are kept with Dr. Amitabh Saxena, we feel that he is making a false story to divert our attention and he might have a role to play in this entire incident. The incident reported by Dr. Amitabh Saxena does not seem convincing to us."

This comes weeks after the central bank barred all the regulated entities from dealing with individuals and businesses transacting in virtual currencies. It said that Virtual Currencies or cryptocurrencies raise concerns of consumer protection, market integrity and money laundering. "In view of the associated risks, it has been decided that, with immediate effect, entities regulated by RBI shall not deal with or provide services to any individual or business entities dealing with or settling VCs," the RBI said in a statement.