The Enforcement Directorate conducted its first raid in the UT of Ladakh on charges of money laundering through cryptocurrencies.
‘Emollient Coin Limited,’ a Ponzi crypto business, looted Rs 7 Cr from 2,508 individual investors, says an ED official.
The Indian crypto market is expected to reach US$6.6bn by the end of 2024- Statista.
India is one of the fastest-evolving markets for cryptocurrencies in Asia. Like most geographies, regulatory challenges and legal uncertainties are major factors that should be considered while analyzing the market.
On August 2, 2024, Indian regulator, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), conducted a raid in the union territory (UT) of Ladakh for the first time, based on information on organized money laundering, using cryptocurrencies. As per an ED official, around 2,508 investors collectively lost Rs 7 Cr in a Ponzi crypto coin.
ED’s zonal office raided around half a dozen places in Jammu in J-K, Leh, a town in Ladakh, and Sonipat, a city in Haryana. An ED official said that the raid was conducted based on the charges on A R Mir and several others.
‘Emollient Coin Limited,’ the identified ponzi crypto business promised the investor a huge profit in exchange for their investment. The filed complaint states that the promoter of the project used investors’ funds to purchase real estate property in Jammu.
The scam came into the limelight in March 2020, when dozens of complaints were filed in Leh and Jammu-Kashmir against Ajay Kumar Choudary & A K Mir. In the follow-up documentation, Leh police noted that the committee formed by the local district magistrate was inquiring about Mir and his aid who helped run Emollient Coin Limited.
The committee sealed the office of Emollient Coin Limited located at the Anjuman Moin-UL complex in UT. The property was sealed on the charges of “cheating the innocent and individual investors, by promising them to double their investment,” the FIR read.
India’s Contribution to Crypto
India has majorly contributed to the advancement and expansion of the global cryptocurrency market. The list of Indian-origin companies in the market is long, some major firms include WazirX, Polygon, CoinDCX, and ZebPay among others.
Polygon (earlier Matic Network) became popular following its contribution to scaling Ethereum and improving blockchain infrastructure. According to Statista, India contributes 22% to the global crypto space user base.
India’s crypto market is projected to witness significant revenue growth, reaching a staggering amount of $6.6bn by the end of 2024, according to Statista.
Market Price Update
The broader cryptocurrency market is experiencing a mixed intraday session, with a slight bearish bias. The total market capitalization has slipped by 1.22% to $2.29 Trillion.
In the past 24 hours, Bitcoin price did not reflect major moves and seems to be consolidating in the range between $62,248 to $65,593. At press time, it was trading at $64,345, with an intraday trading volume of $40.2 Billion.
Weekly Gainers
Aave (AAVE): +17.15% to $116.03
AIOZ Network (AIOZ): +13.80% to $0.583
Bitcoin Cash (BCH): +9.75% to $408.57
BOOK OF MEME (BOME): +9.70% to $0.00915
eCash (XEC): +9.32% to $0.00003741
Weekly Losers
Dogwifhat (WIF): -26.95% to $1.90
Render (RENDER): -22.56% to $5.24
Popcat (POPCAT): -22.08% to $0.6713
Bittensor (TAO): -20.69% to $288.37
Sei (SEI): -20.46% to $0.2897