Coinbase has doubled down on its investment in India’s CoinDCX, valuing the local crypto exchange at $2.45 billion post-money as the American giant bets on digital-asset potential in the country while the regulatory environment appears unclear.
The investment is an add-on to CoinDCX’s previous round of funding and is pending regulatory approvals and other usual closing conditions, the companies said on Wednesday. They did not reveal how much was invested or the size of Coinbase’s stake, but stated that this new round increased the Indian exchange’s valuation from $2.15 billion in its last raise in April 2022.
The company told Tech Detour that the recent funding comprises new capital from Coinbase. The U.S. exchange has been a CoinDCX investor since 2020 and most recently invested in the Indian exchange as part of its Series D round in 2022 via its venture capital arm, Coinbase Ventures.
The funding is also particularly striking following a breach in July at CoinDCX’s operations that saw roughly $44 million worth of assets filched. It follows reports earlier this year that Coinbase was buying CoinDCX — after the Indian exchange’s CEO said at the time that it wasn’t afoot.
“This investment is part of our broader commitment to expanding what we call ‘cryptoeconomic’ infrastructure globally,” said Coinbase’s chief business officer, Shan Aggarwal, in a blog post. “Altogether, these steps should make it clear: we believe that India and its neighbors are going to be a big area for the future growth of the on-chain economy,” they added.
Coinbase had closed operations in India a little over a year ago, but re-entered the market earlier this year by signing up with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit. The U.S. exchange is also an investor in CoinSwitch, another prominent Indian crypto platform.
India, the world’s largest democracy and home to over a billion internet subscribers, is a critical market for American tech giants. But demand remains muted in the South Asian nation, which is still considered a relatively small crypto market, given regulatory uncertainties and the government’s outright 30% tax on gains from digital assets, as well as a 1% levy on every transaction.
India also prohibits offshore crypto exchanges unless they register with its financial watchdog. And, in the latest blow, 25 global platforms such as BingX, LBank, and CoinW were investigated by the government for not registering and enforcing anti–money laundering rules.
Coinbase is doubling down on CoinDCX to further its presence in India, and the move makes sense from a strategic perspective given CoinDCX’s strong local penetration with over 20.4 million users. In July, CoinDCX announced that customer assets were valued at over ₹100 billion (approximately $1.12 billion), while annualized group revenue reached ₹11.79 billion (some $133 million) and overall transaction volumes across its products amounted to ₹13.7 trillion (approximately $154.6 billion).
CoinDCX also entered the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) last year through the purchase of BitOasis. Coinbase may use that footprint to solidify its position in the region, which is among the world’s fastest-growing crypto markets.
The fresh capital will be invested in product optimization, tech infrastructure, and user growth, as well as expanding in new geographies and educational initiatives, CoinDCX said in a statement.
“We see significant synergies in building a compliant and regulatory-approved crypto ecosystem with Coinbase in India, MENA [the Middle East and North Africa] and beyond,” said Sumit Gupta, the co-founder and chief executive of CoinDCX.
