Reliance Jio scotches launch of JioCoin app rumour

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industry Limited, which is reportedly planning to launch its own cryptocurrency JioCoin under the umbrella of Reliance Jio, has clarified that there are no such apps offered by the company or its affiliates/associates.

The company denied reports of such apps, which have been available on Google Play Store under the fake name of JioCoin, the name Reliance has given to its upcoming blockchain product.

"Jio has not launched any JioCoin App," reports Times Now quoting an emailed statement of the company.

Umesh Upadhyay, President & Director Media at Reliance Industries Limited has also tweeted on the matter with the official press release.

Reports of #Jio launching any #cryptocurrency App are fake. Here is the media release: pic.twitter.com/O61cDzTKxf

— Umesh Upadhyay (@upadhyayumesh) January 31, 2018

Earlier this month, Reliance Jio led by Akash Ambani has hinted to enter cryptocurrency market. Besides launching its own virtual currency, it's also eyeing to leverage blockchain in areas of supply chain, logistics amongst others.

The official clarification comes on the heels of rumours of around 22 fake apps, that are already available under the name of JioCoin on Google Play Store. Surprisingly, some of them have crossed 10,000 and even 50,000 downloads.

Meanwhile, the Indian government had asked consumers to be alert before investing in virtual currency like Bitcoin and compared it with notorious Ponzi schemes.

Reliance Jio has also warned people and advised them to refrain from dealing with cryptocurrency.

Reliance Jio is taking a serious note of such fraudulent attempts by unscrupulous persons to misguide the public in the name of Jio and reserves the right to take appropriate legal recourse, the company added.

With the unprecedented rise of Bitcoin in last year, a new trend of easy moneymaking through cryptocurrency has cropped up. This has led to the creation of fake apps.

On Wednesday, Facebook, who has been facing criticism over fake news and videos, has announced that it will ban any advertisement related to cryptocurrency on its platform.

Google too has taken a stringent action on these malicious and Copycat apps and removed 700,000 such apps and 100,000 developers in 2017 from its Play Store.