Indian Crypto Exchange Coinsecure Reports $3.5 million in Bitcoin theft, Alleges Insider Hand

Crypto-theft has been an increasing trend especially following the huge craze and mad rush of crypto investors participating in the market. The exchange’s ability to protect investor’s money has time and again been questioned and regulatory agencies are seen taking stringent actions against the exchange operators.

Indian Cryptocurrency exchange Coinsecure has recently reported a loss of $3.5 million in Bitcoin theft and suspects insider hand in this case. On Friday, April 15, suspended all the operations and has reported the incident to Delhi Police’s Cyber Cell who is said to have started the investigation.

On late Thursday, the crypto exchange in a statement said: “Our Bitcoin funds have been exposed and seemed to have been siphoned out to an address that is outside our control”.

While assuring that there was an internal hand, Coinsecure confirmed that its system wasn’t hacked or compromised and also assured that the victims of the theft will be compensated by the exchanges at its own expenses.

Founder and CEO of Coinsecure, Mohit Kalra while briefing the media about the hack alleged that Amitabh Saxena, the company’s Chief Security Officer has a crucial role in the theft and is one of the team members to be blamed. Kalra said that the losses took place when Saxena was extracting Bitcoin Gold to be distributed to the customers.

He further alleged that it was only Saxena who had all the private keys of the exchange’s main wallet. Kalra said: “Private keys should have never been exported online. It looks like a crime committed intentionally. We have shared our suspicions with the Cyber Cell, and contacted specialists to find out the source of the hack and trace the bitcoins.”

Kalra further added that “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. Dr. Amitabh Saxena also has an Indian passport and he might fly out of the country soon. Therefore, his passport should be seized so he cannot fly out of the country.”

Coinsecure, which is the country’s leading cryptocurrency exchange operator, said that this incident came to their notice while checking their wallets on Monday. The hack showed that there were approximately 438 Bitcoins stolen which amounted to around $3.5 million.

This news arrives just two weeks after India’s Central Bank - The Reserve Bank of India - announced all the regulated entities like banks to not deal with crypto exchanges.