The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Mumbai has today questioned Raj Kundra, husband of the famous actress Shilpa Shetty, about an investigation into alleged money laundering related to bitcoin transactions.
The businessman was summoned to the entity’s offices to question him about his involvement with bitcoin trade, which the government describes as illegal. There are allegedly some connections to bitcoin cases that may be related to Raj Kundra, so he was required to file a legal statement now.
On April 3, the ED indicted the bitcoin-based investment website GainBitcoin for criminal activity against the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Its founder Amit Bhardwaj and eight others were arrested. It is alleged that about 8,000 investors lost about ₹ 2 billion ($ 29,780,000) of funds in transactions at this site.
A day after Amit Bhardwaj’s arrest, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that it would study the possibilities of issuing a national cryptocurrency. The results of the study would be shown for this month of June, according to the announcement in April.
In the meantime, following the GainBitcoin case, the institution has decided to prohibit banks from providing services related to cryptocurrencies. The Executive Director Ganesh Kumar explained that bitcoin will not be used for payments. However, blockchain technology could be used in the country.
India Regulates the Cryptocurrency Market
Last year, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, informed the Parliament that there are no regulations governing virtual currencies in India and that the BI did not grant any license to any entity or company to operate such currencies.
The government has also warned investors to be wary of virtual currencies like bitcoin, saying they are like Ponzi schemes without any protection.
India has been controversial. From arrests for bitcoin trading to the affirmative support of blockchain technology, a definitive answer is expected this month as to whether or not it will launch a national cryptocurrency.
Image Provided by Flickr
