Indian Authority Freezes 150 Bitcoins Held at Binance Crypto Exchange

India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) says that it has frozen 150.22 more bitcoins held at cryptocurrency exchange Binance. The freeze is part of an investigation into mobile gaming application E-nuggets, which was designed to defraud the public, the ED said.

India Freezes More Bitcoins at Binance

India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced Friday that it has frozen 150.22 bitcoins under the country’s Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED is the government of India’s law enforcement and economic intelligence agency.

The case involves Aamir Khan, s/o Nesar Ahmed Khan, who launched a mobile gaming application called E-nuggets, which “was designed for the purpose of defrauding [the] public,” the ED described.

The official ED Twitter account tweeted explaining that the agency investigated a crypto wallet and user ID at cryptocurrency exchange Binance, which led to the freezing of 150.22 BTC.

The ED further detailed:

It was revealed during investigation that multiple accounts (more than 300) were used to launder the money. Proceeds were also used to purchase cryptocurrencies.

The authority explained that it previously froze several cryptocurrencies in the E-nuggets case. Last month, the ED said it froze 85.91870554 bitcoins at Binance as well as two crypto tokens held at Indian crypto exchange Wazirx: WRX and USDT. In addition, 44.5 more BTC were subsequently “seized and frozen” from the residential premises of Romen Agarwal.

Agarwal “is actively involved in inter/intra country transactions related with transfer of ill-gotten money within & outside the countries received from criminals.” He has been arrested and is currently under judicial custody, the ED noted.

What do you think about the ED freezing more bitcoin in the E-nuggets mobile gaming app case? Let us know in the comments section below.

Kevin Helms

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.