Indian ‘Crypto King’ Arrested In Bitcoin-Linked Drug Bust

Makarand P Adivirkar, a Mumbai resident, was detained by the Narcotics Control Bureau Mumbai Zone for allegedly enabling the purchase of drugs in Bitcoin. According to NCB Mumbai officials, Adivirkar, also known as “Crypto King,” used to convert one’s cash into Bitcoin by taking commissions and then purchasing LSDs (a hallucinogenic drug) and other substances from the dark web.

Bitcoin leverages peer-to-peer technology to operate without a central authority or banks, with the network managing transactions and issuing bitcoins collectively. On the dark web, bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies are frequently utilised for illegal activities.

After media reports claimed that Makarand P Adivirkar, popularly known as ‘crypto king,’ utilised many bitcoin wallets on platforms like WazirX to handle payments for multiple drug dealer networks in India, WazirX clarified on Friday that he is not a client of the cryptocurrency exchange.

Following claims that the crypto king utilised Wazirx, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange, to facilitate his drug transactions, the exchange clarified that he is not a user. “On June 11, 2021, Wazirx received an email from the NCB questioning about the stated accused and his trading activities on Wazirx,” Wazirx wrote on Twitter. We discovered that the accused is not a Wazirx user after verifying our records, and we informed the police on June 12, 2021.”