Indian bitcoin exchange startup Coinsecure has announced that 438.318 bitcoins (approximately $3.3 million) have been stolen from its bitcoin wallet.
The company said that the said funds have been siphoned off to an address beyond its control. The incident came to light on April 09. In an online post on the website, it stated:
“Our system itself has never been compromised or hacked, and the current issue points towards losses caused during an exercise to extract BTG [Bitcoin Gold] 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.”
Coinsecure has filed an FIR (First Information Report) with the Cyber Cell, Delhi. In its complaint, the company has alleged that Saxena is “making a false story,” saying:
“On 9th April 2018, we were informed by our CSO, Dr. Amitabh Saxena, that 438.318 bitcoins, (worth INR 19 crores- Approx.) were stolen from our company’s bitcoin wallet due to some attack. 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 company has also requested the authorities to seize Saxena’s passport so that could not fly out of the country.
