The case is registered under multiple IPC sections including cheating, criminal conspiracy, and breach of trust, with IT Act provisions invoked.

The CBI’s expanded investigation follows a Supreme Court order from December 2023 directing probes into related GainBitcoin incident reports.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India said it would maintain existing lending rules for retail brokers and proprietary traders from April, including full collateral requirements and a ban on financing proprietary trading.

Indian investigators from the CBI have arrested Ayush Varshney, co-founder and chief technology officer of Darwin Labs, in connection with the GainBitcoin cryptocurrency fraud case.

Varshney, also described as Darwin Labs’ co-founder and CEO/CTO in various sources, is facing charges tied to the GainBitcoin crypto scam valued at about ₹20,000 crore ($2.17 billion).

The probe has spanned years with raids on multiple sites as authorities pursue other suspects, trace funds, and recover stolen assets.

GainBitcoin began in the mid-2010s as a cloud-mining platform and evolved into a larger fraud scheme that has been covered in previous reporting.

The scheme involved several figures, including Amit Bhardwaj and Ajay Bhardwaj, with activity spread across Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Delhi, and West Bengal; the Supreme Court assigned the case to the CBI due to its scale and international implications.

The arrest marks the CBI’s first major detention in the case, with officials signaling more actions as the inquiry proceeds.

Authorities have conducted extensive searches—over 60 locations—as part of ongoing GainBitcoin investigations.

GainBitcoin started as a cloud-mining operation in the mid-2010s, later adopting an MLM Ponzi model and, as funds slowed, shifting payouts to the in-house MCAP token.

CBI states the GainBitcoin scheme affected about 8,000 investors with losses estimated around ₹6,606 crore (roughly $790 million).