India’s ED seizes ₹8.54 crore tied to alleged Bitcoin investment scam
The latest attachment lifts total assets frozen in the case to about ₹13.10 crore as India’s financial crime agency deepens a money-laundering probe linked to the BTCFUND.IS website.
India’s Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached assets worth about ₹8.54 crore in a money-laundering probe tied to an alleged Bitcoin investment fraud, bringing total attachments in the case to roughly ₹13.10 crore. The agency alleges Hemant Ishwar Sharma used the Iceland-registered website BTCFUND.IS to lure investors from across India with promises of high returns and claims of foreign backing, then shut the platform after collecting substantial Bitcoin. The ED says its blockchain analysis traced about 856.23 BTC, valued by the agency at around ₹200 crore, as retained proceeds of crime that were allegedly routed through crypto exchanges and used for property, vehicles and home renovation. Sharma has been arrested, a prosecution complaint was filed on May 20, 2026, and the Special Court (PMLA) in Dehradun took cognizance on July 13, 2026. The allegations are those of the ED, and the case remains under investigation.
- PMLA: India’s Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the law used to freeze assets suspected to be tied to criminal proceeds.
- provisional attachment: A legal step that temporarily freezes assets believed to be proceeds of crime pending further review.
- blockchain analysis: The tracing of transactions on a blockchain to follow the movement of digital assets.