The GainBitcoin Cryptocurrency Ponzi Scheme

“Investors were promised returns of approximately 10% per month in Bitcoin for 18 months by investing in GainBitcoin's cloud Bitcoin-mining and multi-level-marketing schemes, marketed through websites including gainbitcoin.com under Variabletech Pte. Ltd.”

— Amit Bhardwaj (founder, now deceased), with brother Ajay Bhardwaj and associated promoters, Founder of GainBitcoin and related ventures (GB Miners, GB21, CoinBank, MCAP token) · 1 January 2015

This reflects the general returns pitch described consistently across contemporaneous and later reporting on the scheme, rather than a verified quotation from GainBitcoin's own marketing material, which this entry has not reviewed directly.

That investors who deposited money or Bitcoin into GainBitcoin's mining/MLM schemes would receive the promised ~10% monthly Bitcoin returns from genuine mining operations and business activity, rather than from new investors' deposits.

Ordinary financial-fraud and cheating standards under the Indian Penal Code, and India's Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978, which prohibits money-circulation/pyramid schemes; India had no dedicated cryptocurrency regulatory framework at the time.

In force from 1 January 2015

Pune Police's cyber cell arrested Amit Bhardwaj on 5 April 2018 (along with associates including brother Ajay Bhardwaj and GB Miners co-founders Nikunj Jain and Sahil Baghla), alleging GainBitcoin was a Ponzi scheme; police pegged the scam at figures ranging from roughly Rs 2,000 crore to Rs 13,000 crore in different early reports, with later estimates (contested and varying widely across sources) reaching into the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. A second chargesheet was filed in June 2018, and the Enforcement Directorate registered its own money-laundering case in April 2018. Amit Bhardwaj died of cardiac arrest on 15 January 2022, before the case concluded, but investigation into his associates and network continued. In April 2024, the ED reported finding roughly $11.7 million in immovable and movable properties connected to the scheme, reportedly including assets linked to entrepreneur Raj Kundra (whose alleged connection to the case is a specific, contested allegation this entry has not independently verified). The CBI filed its own FIR in the broader Bitcoin-Ponzi matter in November 2024 and conducted raids at over 60 locations in February 2025, and made a further arrest (Ayush Varshney, intercepted at Mumbai airport) around March 2025. As of this entry's research, recovery for victims remains minimal relative to the scale of alleged losses, and the case remains under investigation/trial across multiple agencies (Pune Police, ED, CBI) years after it first surfaced.

As of 10 March 2025

Estimates of the scheme's total size vary enormously across sources reviewed: early Indian police estimates ranged from roughly Rs 2,000 crore to Rs 13,000 crore (approximately US$300 million to over $1.5 billion at contemporary exchange rates), while later reporting cited figures as high as $2.1-2.7 billion, and some outlets have floated even higher, less-substantiated figures. This entry treats the total scale as genuinely disputed and unresolved rather than adopting any single number as authoritative.

1. 1 Jan 2015Announcement
   GainBitcoin launches

   Amit Bhardwaj launches GainBitcoin and related cloud-mining/MLM schemes promising ~10% monthly Bitcoin returns.

2. 5 Apr 2018Milestone
   Amit Bhardwaj arrested

   Pune Police's cyber cell arrests Bhardwaj in Delhi along with associates, alleging a large-scale Bitcoin Ponzi scheme.

3. 7 Apr 2018Milestone
   ED registers money-laundering case

   The Enforcement Directorate opens its own case against GainBitcoin.

4. 14 Jun 2018Milestone
   Second chargesheet filed

   Pune Police files a second chargesheet against Amit Bhardwaj and associates.

5. 15 Jan 2022Status
   Amit Bhardwaj dies

   Bhardwaj dies of cardiac arrest before the case against him concludes; investigation continues against his network of associates.

6. 1 Apr 2024Status
   ED finds $11.7 million in linked assets

   The ED reports discovering immovable and movable properties worth roughly $11.7 million connected to the GainBitcoin scheme.

7. 20 Nov 2024Milestone
   CBI files fresh FIR

   The CBI registers its own FIR naming multiple individuals in the broader Bitcoin-Ponzi matter.

8. 25 Feb 2025Status
   CBI conducts raids at 60+ locations

   Nationwide raids are conducted as part of the ongoing cryptocurrency-scam investigation.

9. 10 Mar 2025Milestone
   Further arrest made

   Ayush Varshney is intercepted at Mumbai airport before an alleged attempt to leave the country and is formally arrested by the CBI.

Multiple criminal proceedings are ongoing across different agencies: Pune Police filed chargesheets against Amit Bhardwaj and associates in 2018; the Enforcement Directorate has pursued a parallel money-laundering investigation, reporting fresh asset discoveries as recently as 2024; and the CBI opened its own FIR and raids in late 2024/early 2025 covering the wider Bitcoin-Ponzi network. Amit Bhardwaj died in 2022 before any verdict against him personally. Based on this entry's research, no final conviction in the core GainBitcoin case has been reported, and multiple individuals remain under investigation or trial.

• The true total scale of investor losses is disputed across sources by more than an order of magnitude (from roughly Rs 2,000 crore to over $2 billion) and this entry has not been able to determine which, if any, figure is authoritative.
• The alleged connection between ED-seized assets and entrepreneur Raj Kundra, reported in some 2024 coverage, has not been independently verified by this entry and should be treated as a specific, contested allegation only.
• This is a stub entry; deeper research on the current (post-March 2025) status of CBI and ED proceedings, and any victim compensation/recovery process, is pending.