The crypto movement continues with ATM’s

The first ATM in India has been seized by police officials

There has been a report that the co-founder of India’s first crypto ATM has been arrested, that was set up in Bengaluru which is the capital of the Southern State of Karnataka. The co-founder was arrested on the grounds that the ATM was set up illegally without any required or necessary approval, this was according to a report by the local daily Times of India.

The accused was mister Harish BV, the co-founder of Unocoin Technologies in Bengaluru and operates the ATM beside a kiosk at a shopping mall.

In this latest crackdown of cryptocurrencies by the police, the Karnataka Central Crime Branch has seized, a number of things. These included a teller machine, a mobile, two laptops, a passport, three credit cards, five debit cards, five seals of Unocoin along with a cryptocurrency device worth over 180,000 in Indian Rupees which is around $2,456.

The accused was brought before the court and was given a seven-days police remanding. The police are expecting to make more arrests in the days to come. According to reports from the police, the kiosk where the ATM was operating at was being used by Bitcoin traders to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. They have also cautioned the public of any fraudulent proposals that are promising big returns on investments in crypto assets.

The Unocoin struggles in India

In defense to the Unocoin Business model, the co-founder Sathvik Viswanath has mentioned that it was a completely legal implementation for Indian buyers and sellers of their own Bitcoins.

In a statement by Viswanath in a TOI report:

“We got a lot of bad press after the finance minister announced a ban in February 2018. The minister’s statement was clear. Cryptocurrencies are not legal tender in India. He did not say ‘illegal tender’. There’s a huge difference. It means you bear the risk of your investment and there’s no regulation for the industry.”

In addition to this India’s finance minister has stated in his 2018-2019 speech that:

“The government does not consider cryptocurrencies legal tender or coin and will take measures to eliminate the use of these cryptoassets in financing illegitimate activities.”

Apparently, The crypto ATM’s were not operational, as there were a few mainstream media reports that projected it in a negative light. However, the machine is currently still in testing mode and will be up and running soon again. The ATM has unfortunately been temporarily moved from its original place of installation, as stated by Unocoin.

Vishwanath the management of the shopping mall has become apprehensive after media reports. He stated that:

“The reason for the panic is because of fake videos on the Kannada and English channels. Due to this, our kiosk is not operational. But we’ve been trying to actively get these videos pulled down.”

What is your opinion on these seize of this ATM project? Please feel free to leave a comment down below.