How kidnappers went from targeting Mercedes owners to Bitcoin traders
- Mitali Mukherjee
- Updated: May 7, 2024, 19:35 IST IST
In her new book on cryptocurrency crimes, the business journalist looks at how organised criminal groups related to drug-trafficking, money laundering or betting have quickly latched on to crypto for its unregulated and perceived anonymous nature. India’s rural badlands, she finds, is no exception
Google Trends data for 2017 shows that among all the searches originating from Surat, the proportion of ‘Bitcoin’ was highest when compared to other cities.
Interestingly, the list is peppered with many more Indian names, including pocket boroughs like Pimpri-Chinchwad (Pune), which is at seventh place, and Gurugram near Delhi at eighth spot. There are thin and tenuous lines though, between ‘interest’ spilling into ‘obsession’, and the problematic space that lies between those two.
Interestingly, the list is peppered with many more Indian names, including pocket boroughs like Pimpri-Chinchwad (Pune), which is at seventh place, and Gurugram near Delhi at eighth spot. There are thin and tenuous lines though, between ‘interest’ spilling into ‘obsession’, and the problematic space that lies between those two.
