India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Ayush Varshni, the co-founder and chief technology officer of Darwin Labs Private Limited, in connection with the long-running investigation into the GainBitcoin cryptocurrency scam.
According to a Wednesday press release issued through the official CBIs X account, Varshni was arrested at the Mumbai airport on Monday while trying to leave India after a Circular was issued against him. He was formally arrested on Tuesday and handed over to the CBI.
The CBI said Darwin Labs played a central role in building the technological infrastructure used by the alleged scheme, including the GainBitcoin investor platform and related tools used to manage payments and wallets.
The arrest is the latest development in India’s investigation into the multi-billion dollar GainBitcoin scheme, one of the country’s biggest cryptocurrency investment scams.
Investigators are linking the developer to the infrastructure behind the alleged scheme
According to the CBI, the GainBitcoin scheme was promoted by Variabletech Pte. Ltd. and allegedly promised investors around 10% monthly returns on Bitcoin (BTC) for up to 18 months. “Funds collected from investors were later misappropriated,” the CBI said.
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Darwin Labs and its co-founders, including Varshni, Sahil Bagla and Nikunj Jain, were involved in the design and deployment of a cryptocurrency token called MCAP and its associated ERC-20 smart contract, the agency said.
CBI added that the company also helped develop key components of the platform’s technical infrastructure, including the GBMiners.com mining pool, a Bitcoin payment gateway, the Coin Bank Bitcoin wallet and the GainBitcoin investor website used to communicate with participants.
The decade-long case involved 8,000 investors and $790 million
GainBitcoin emerged in the mid-2010s as a cloud mining investment platform that encouraged users to buy Bitcoin and deposit it into the service in exchange for a promised fixed return.
The CBI alleged that the scheme ultimately relied on a multi-level marketing structure in which payments were linked to attracting new investors. When new deposits slowed down, the platform switched payments from Bitcoin to the domestic token MCAP, which had a much lower value.
The operation is said to have been developed by Amit Bhardwaj, a prominent Bitcoin promoter in India who died in 2022 while on bail.
On February 26, 2025, Indian authorities raided more than 60 locations as part of an investigation into the GainBitcoin scheme.
Investigators had previously said the case involved 8,000 investors and authorities estimated losses of about 6,606 million Indian rupees (about $790 million).
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