CoinDCX denies holding acquisition talks with Coinbase
According to a Mint report, Coinbase was in advanced discussions to acquire CoinDCX in a deal that would have valued the Indian crypto exchange at less than a billion dollars—claims CoinDCX’s co-founders have since denied.
Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX’s co-founders Sumit Gupta and Niraj Khandelwal took to social media to deny a Mint report that claimed the company was in advanced talks to be acquired by NASDAQ-listed Coinbase.
According to the report, the deal would have valued the exchange at less than a billion dollars, a sharp fall from its peak valuation of $2.2 billion three years ago. However, the company’s founders have denied having held these talks.
“Ignore the rumours! CoinDCX is ‘super focused’ on building for India’s crypto story and not up for sale!,” Gupta posted on X.
Coinbase had previously invested in CoinDCX’s Series A funding round with follow-on investments in its Series C round as well as its most recent Series D round in 2022, when it raised $135 million, according to data from Tracxn.
CoinDCX is reeling from a security breach earlier this month, which resulted in the loss of funds from one of its internal operational wallets. Blockchain security firm Cyvers said that the attacker siphoned off approximately $44.2 million in USDC and USDT from a CoinDCX wallet on the Solana blockchain.
The breach occurred a year after another Indian crypto exchange, WazirX, suffered a massive breach in which attackers siphoned off about $235 million worth of digital assets.
Additionally, in May this year, Coinbase also suffered a data leak when user information was hacked after a subsidiary received an email from an unknown “threat actor.” The firm had expected this leak to cost the company between $180 million and $400 million, accounting for remediation costs and voluntary customer reimbursements.
Coinbase, which registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit in March this year, is preparing to roll out its initial retail services in the country and will make additional investments and products in India, thereafter, the company had said in a blog post.
The US-based crypto giant had also invested in CoinDCX’s peer CoinSwitch back in 2021 during its $260-million Series C fundraise.
Edited by Kanishk Singh