Indian woman living in Bengaluru on March 17 was arrested with a proof for allegedly stealing 63.5 bitcoins from Bitcipher Labs. Reports suggest that she is the woman who co-founded the crypto exchange platform Bitcipher Labs in its early days.

The thefts took place in two different days: on January 11 and March 11 respectively. According to sources, the woman steals around $480,000 worth of BTC from Bitcipher in these two days.

Crypto Exchange ‘Bitcipher’ co-founder steals $480,000 in BTC

Ayushi Jain, the 26-year-old former Bitcipher employee, was found guilty in stealing 63.5 BTC allegation from hardware wallets owned by the crypto exchange.

Indian police act on the matter as soon as they receive a complaint filed by Bitcipher Labs’ CEO, Ashish Singhal, who had identified the two unauthorized transactions.

Per the Bangaluru Investigation Department, an “investigation revealed the complainant had hardware wallets in which Bitcoins were stored, and a 24-word passphrase (password) was written on a piece of paper.”

Seeing the master-work, police suspects that the “thief was someone proficient in using this technology, and who was closely associated with the firm, due to which the culprit was able to operate a cryptocurrency hardware wallet and access the funds using the wallet’s corresponding passphrase.”

Police Recover the Stolen Bitcoins

Once the police complete a list of the exchange’s former employees, Ayushi was identified as a mere close suspect, because she left her high-paying job on Dec. 16, 2019, though she co-founded Bitcipher next to Singhal in 2017.

After being questioned by the police officials, Ayushi confessed her wrongdoing. After that, the police recover the stolen bitcoins from her. A senior police officer stated:

On Wednesday, we took Ayushi into custody and searched her house. We seized a laptop which contained the history, showing how Ayushi used the passphrase and stole money in installments between January and March. She confessed to the crime. By Thursday afternoon, we recovered the entire amount.

Ayushi’s laptop has been recovered and seized by the Police. And all stolen bitcoin funds returned to the crypto exchange Bitcipher.

Crypto Exchanges Rush to Enter Indian Market

India becomes an eye-catching country for the cryptocurrency community. Recently, the apex court of India has reversed the Reserve Bank of India’s ban on financial institutions dealing with cryptocurrency. This allows several businesses to operate in the country with cryptocurrencies.C

Cryptocurrencies are now rushing to enter the Indian market with high hopes and opportunities. As per the recent parliamentary investigation, only two cryptocurrency exchanges are licensed in the country.