Cryptocurrency exchange, Zebpay, has affirmed that it experienced an inspection
Cryptocurrency exchange, Zebpay, has affirmed that it experienced an inspection by the Indian government, including that the issue currently closed.
Prior this week, the Press Trust of India announced the ZEB IT Services Pvt. Ltd., otherwise known as Zebpay, was inspected by the nation’s Ministry of Corporate Affairs and was found to have “violations.”
Anurag Singh Thakur, India’s Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, was quoted as saying –
“… based on the findings, prosecutions have been filed for violations under various provisions of the Companies Act and the same also have been concluded on payment of penalty on the compounding application(s) filed by the company.”
Vikram Rangala, Zebpay’s chief marketing officer, told that the inspection was directed in mid 2019 and the case was closed last September. He said –
“The violation was actually just an accounting error, which was corrected and a small fine was paid.”
Rangala added –
“The error came partly because the regulations for recording and reporting crypto transactions were not yet created or clear.”
He declined to unveil the punishment amount in light of the fact that Zebpay is complying with the government’s decision of not making the subtleties of the punishment open.
Rangala said –
“To be fair, there was no prosecution. I think the word was used casually or perhaps translated inaccurately. ZEB IT wasn’t accused of deliberately doing anything unethical or illegal. And as we’ve said, we’re 100% in favor of being properly regulated.”
A request for comment to the state minister was not returned by press time.
Deepak Kapoor, founder of the think tank BEGIN India, which works with the Indian govt. and investigative agencies to battle cryptocurrency crimes, disclosed that the ministry took an unmistakable stand in the Zebpay case, which is a welcome development.
Kapoor said –
“It would be more appreciable and in broader interest, if such ambiguities in tax computation for crypto and blockchain businesses are removed. A clear policy will ease the pain for the government and businesses alike.”
Rangala further revealed that ZEB IT has gone under liquidation as a feature of new management and that Zebpay presently works under Awlencan Innovations India.
He focused on that there have been no further investigations into ZEB IT or some other organizations related with Zebpay.
Zebpay relaunched in India this January under another initiative team. The trade shut down in September 2018, a couple of months after the RBI’s banking boycott became effective. Prior this month, the Supreme Court of India lifted the boycott.