Indian tax authorities raid Bitcoin exchanges

NEW DELHI, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Indian tax authorities Wednesday raided a number of Bitcoin exchanges across the country on suspicion of tax evasion, sources said.

"At least nine bitcoin exchanges have been raided since morning by sleuths from the Income Tax department. The raids were carried out in the Indian capital, and the southern cities of Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi," sources said.

"Though no one has been arrested during the raids, several documents have been seized by the sleuths. We are probing if these exchanges violated Indian laws and failed to pay the relevant tax to the government," sources added.

The raids came days after India's central bank has warned people against investing in virtual currencies (VC) like Bitcoin.

"In the wake of significant spurt in the valuation of many VCs and rapid growth in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), RBI (Reserve Bank of India) reiterates the concerns," it said, referring to earlier warnings.

A cryptocurrency, Bitcoin's value touched nearly 20,000 U.S. dollars this month, for the first time, in its astounding assent that puzzled watchers. Enditem