Mumbai: Andhra Pradesh-based Bitcoin firm directed to refund money to an investor

Mumbai: Andhra Pradesh-based Bitcoin firm directed to refund money to an investor

The commission directed the firm to refund the complainant's Rs 1.70 lakh with 12 percent interest. And further directed Rs 40,000 to be paid to him for mental agony faced and litigation costs.

Ashutosh M ShuklaUpdated: Wednesday, November 09, 2022, 12:09 PM IST
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Mumbai: Andhra Pradesh-based Bitcoin firm directed to refund money to an investor | FIle Photo

A district consumer commission has directed a Bitcoin firm to refund Rs 1.70 lakh with 12 percent interest from December, 2017 till realisation to a man who had invested the amount in buying crypto currency from them.

The commission said that if the above is not refunded in 30 days, an interest of 18 percent will have to be paid from the date of purchase to realisation. The commission further directed Rs 40,000 to be paid to him for mental agony faced and litigation cost.

The order pronounced on September 23, 2022, was uploaded on November 7, 2022, against a complaint made by Ronald Agnello, a Chinchpokli resident against Bitcoin India Software Services Pvt Ltd, based out of Andhra Pradesh.

The order was passed by SS Mhatre, president, and MP Kaskar, member of District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Central Mumbai.

Complainant restrcited from withdrawing funds

Menezes purchased cryptocurrency worth Rs 1.7 lakh as a personal investment on December 6, 2017, from Bitcoin. However, he was not able to sell the same after a few years due to the restriction on use of cryptocurrency by the Government of India and RBI.

Once the restrictions were removed post order and guidelines from the Supreme Court of India, its business started to flourish again. It was at this time that Menezes wanted to sell all his investments but he was told that there is a restriction on the withdrawal of money for accounts prior to December 31, 2020.

The withdrawal limit was set at Rs 15,000 per day. Bitcoin also informed him that it had two sets of rules, one for accounts prior to December 2020 and the other for those post-January 1, 2021.

Ronald said that rules were in complete violation of rules and regulations and terms of purchase of the cryptocurrency and that he was not even intimated when such rules were framed.

Complainant's account terminated

After Ronald's email requesting limit be increased to Rs 2 lakhs, a month later his account was blocked and later terminated. It was stated that any person taking action against Bitcoin, their account will be blocked and terminated without notice and all money deducted from their account.

After a complaint was filed and notice issued, Bitcoin failed to appear. An order to proceed to expiate was passed. During the hearing, Ronald submitted proof of statement of account of money paid to Bitcoin, emails requesting an increase of withdrawal limit, Bitcoin email that account is terminated, Bitcoin email asking for details to process the settlement and another email stating that fine amount of Rs 99,000 was collected and that there was no balance in account to give him.

The Commission stated "It has been observed that, complainant’s account was blocked as well as terminated by the opposite party at one hand and after institution of instant case before this Commission opposite party is doing correspondence with complainant via email. So all allegation of complainant made against opposite party in complaint remained unchallenged hence we held that, opposite party committed deficiency in services and unfair trade practices towards complainant while providing services in regard virtual currencies. Opposite party failed to refute all allegations which have been made by the complainant against them in complaint case." 

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