The High Court of the Indian capital city Delhi is seeking a response from top government organizations regrading the BitBNS crisis.
According to local media reports, the Delhi High Court contacted the Central government, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), to response over the alleged BitBNS crisis.
The court’s decision comes amid a plea that has been filed expressing concerns regarding a financial crisis that has allegedly impacted users of the BitBNS cryptocurrency exchange platform.
The case comes against the backdrop of a rise in scams, hacks, and illegal activities about the crypto ream in India.
What Is The Plea About?
According to the plea, the Indian cryptocurrency exchange platform called BitBNS made headlines when users complained about withdrawals being frozen.
About 16 users of the cryptocurrency trading platform filed a petition asking the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the case.
The BitBNS situation, according to the petition, emphasizes how urgently India has to improve its regulation of cryptocurrencies and virtual digital assets (VDA).
India Witnesses a Rise in Illegal Crypto Activities
A lack of crypto regulation in the country has resulted in India seeing a rise in illicit activities.
Though most top regulators in the nation have taken an alert and vigilant stance, India’s crypto industry has still faced a rise in illegal activities.
A previous step to stop the increase in “Pig Butchering” frauds in the country, India had chosen to collaborate with tech behemoths like Google and Facebook.
The action was taken in response to India’s tough stance against illegal cryptocurrency activities occurring there and the global increase in scams in the industry.
Other Big Crypto Scams in India
One of the biggest hacks and scams that took place in the crypto industry in 2024 was India’s WazirX hack. The loss of $234.9 million in funds in the hack made many in the industry skeptical about the safety of their funds.
Another big scam that happened previously was when the authorities in India uncovered a network of cryptocurrencies that was being utilized in “illegal transactions” in Jaipur.
Local media sources stated that during a raid on wedding planners, Jaipur income tax authorities found Bitcoin transactions, seized almost ₹20 crore worth of cash and jewelry, and frozen three cryptocurrency wallets.
The planners allegedly transferred $2.3 million by converting customer funds into cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and USDT through “hawala networks.”
In the same trend, about 17 crypto exchanges implicated in a significant tax evasion scam have been shut down by the Indian government.
The Indian government had found significant Goods and Services Tax (GST) avoidance by 17 cryptocurrency exchanges, totaling ₹824.14 crore ($97.1 million), according to Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary.