Now, CEO held for installing cryptocurrency kiosk

A day after the arrest of the co-founder of Unocoin Technologies and the seizure of the cryptocurrency ATM kiosk, Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths on Wednesday arrested the CEO and founder of the company, Sathvik Vishwanath.

Vishwanath (32) was arrested for installing the country’s first cryptocurrency Automated Teller Machine (ATM) at Kemp Fort Mall on Old Airport Road sans permission.

CCB sleuths said Vishwanath, a native of Tumakuru, started a company dealing with cryptocurrency in 2013 which lured people to buy, sell, store, use and accept bitcoins. He, along with his co-founder Harish B V, who was arrested on October 23, 2018, started the company first at Tumakuru and later shifted their office to Rajajinagar in Bengaluru.

The CEO claimed on his company's website that, he has over 15 years of entrepreneurial experience building software systems in the financial and virtual reality industry. He has an MBA in IT and Business from the University of Melbourne.

Vishwanatha's co-founder, Harish B V, claimed that he is the chief financial and compliance officer and has 15 years of experience in the financial and telecommunication industry. He also boasted about being a computer science and telecommunication engineer from Siddaganga Institute of Technology.

The CCB police said that they arrested Vishwanath for installing the cryptocurrency Kiosk without permission from the state government and indulging in unlawful activities with regard to cryptocurrency. Police have also seized one laptop and one mobile phone from him.

A senior police officer said that the investigation revealed that Vishwanath along with his associates tried to cheat people to make wrongful gains and operated the cryptocurrency ATM kiosk unlawfully, without obtaining the required permission.

Police also requested members of the general public not fall for such cryptocurrency traps which have been deemed illegal by the finance ministry.

During an earlier interview to DH on October 19, Vishwanath was confident that his kiosk would get at least 50 transactions each day. He had also told DH that his company had followed all procedures to install the kiosk at the mall.