Latest news with #WazirX
Mint
2 hours ago
- Business
- Mint
Crypto Hack: With $44 million theft at CoinDCX, should investors be wary of investing in cryptos?
Almost one year after $234.9 million was lost to a hack at WazirX on July 18, 2024, another crypto exchange CoinDCX has encountered a massive hack leading to loss of $44 million. This has reportedly given a considerable setback to the new-age investors, some of whom had pinned their hopes on earning good returns amid skyrocketing crypto prices. In the past one month alone, bitcoin prices have risen by around 14 percent to touch $1,18,000. Meanwhile, CoinDCX's Sumit Gupta – after the hack -- wrote on X that customers' funds are 100 percent safe as all user assets are stored in segregated cold wallets. The company further claimed that its reserves are absorbing all losses. After the news spread in the market, the exchange received a huge number of withdrawal requests. In just one day, this crypto exchange received 31,462 requests -- out of which 98.09 percent (30,862) requests have already been processed and the remaining are set to be done in the next three days, Gupta wrote on the micro-blogging site. Most investors wrote positive comments on Gupta's post where he gave an update about INR withdrawals, whereas a few investors expressed discontent for having to exit their position during a bull run such as the post embedded here. CoinDCX on Monday also announced its recovery bounty programme wherein it said that 25 percent of any recovered funds will be rewarded to individuals who can help trace and retrieve the stolen crypto. 'The exposure was from our own reserves, and we have already absorbed it through our corporate treasury. More than recovering the stolen funds, what is important for us is to identify and catch the attackers because such things should not happen again,' wrote Sumit Gupta, co-founder, Coin DCX on X platform. Industry experts believe that these incidents should not shake the faith of investors in the asset class per se. 'Crypto is a fast-growing asset class and choosing how to hold it via self-custody or centralised exchanges (CEXs), is crucial. While self-custody offers control, it also carries higher risks such as key mismanagement or phishing. For investors, the question is not whether it is safe, but it should be whether I am investing through platforms which take safety seriously,' says Edul Patel, CEO and Co-founder of Mudrex. 'Exchanges are becoming more secure and accountable. Platforms such as ByBit and CoinDCX which recently suffered incidents, have shown this by shielding users from losses using internal treasuries, protection funds and distribution of user assets across multiple cold and hot wallets, adds Patel. Some wealth advisors, meanwhile, have a different take on this. 'Some investors want to try new and fancy financial products, and it may lead to investing in unregulated products that carry huge risk. Cryptocurrency is one such product. Its value can change constantly and dramatically at any point in time. If the value goes down, there's no guarantee that it will rise again and that's why an unstable investment due to high investor losses from scams, hacks, bugs, and volatility in the recent couple of years,' says Preeti Zende, a Sebi-registered investment advisor and founder of Apna Dhan Financial Services. 'So, it is better not to burn fingers in such risky and unregulated products and stick with old, trusted products for wealth creation. To achieve long-term sustainable wealth in the long run, investors require a simple investment strategy,' she adds. For all personal finance updates, visit here
Time of India
5 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
CoinDCX offers $11 million bounty to recover $44 million
File photo BENGALURU: CoinDCX confirmed a $44 million security breach involving one of its internal operational accounts, marking the second-largest publicly known crypto hack at an Indian exchange. The company launched a recovery bounty of up to $11 million to trace the funds and identify those responsible. While the loss was limited to CoinDCX's own treasury and customer assets remained unaffected, the incident reignited scrutiny over operational security across Indian crypto platforms. 'No customer funds were affected, and we absorbed the loss through our own treasury,' CoinDCX CEO Sumit Gupta said. This is the second major crypto security incident involving an Indian exchange, following WazirX's 2022 disclosure of a $230 million exploit. Previous breaches at platforms such as BuyUcoin also raised concerns around security architecture and incident preparedness. In each case, the underlying causes were platform-specific operational failures—not regulatory gaps. Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Time of India
14 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Crypto under fire again: CoinDCX hack revives questions on platform security
BENGALURU: CoinDCX has confirmed a $44 million security breach involving one of its internal operational accounts, marking the second-largest publicly known crypto hack at an Indian exchange. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The company has launched a recovery bounty of up to $11 million to trace the funds and identify those responsible. While the loss was limited to CoinDCX's own treasury and customer assets remain unaffected, the incident has reignited scrutiny over operational security across Indian crypto platforms. This is the second major crypto security incident involving an Indian exchange, following WazirX's 2022 disclosure of a $230 million exploit. Previous breaches at platforms such as BuyUcoin have also raised concerns around security architecture and incident preparedness. In each case, the underlying causes have been platform-specific operational failures – not regulatory gaps. However, the lack of a formal framework for breach disclosures, audit requirements or incident resolution protocols has contributed to the industry's uneven response. While exchanges are now required to register with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and enforce KYC norms, broader rules on infrastructure integrity, key management or hot wallet exposure remain absent. 'Regulatory clarity is absolutely urgent, especially for builders working at the infrastructure and protocol layers,' said Aishwary Gupta, Global Head of Payments at Polygon Labs, the blockchain developer that recently partnered with Reliance to launch JioCoin. 'We need a regime where good-faith innovation is protected, not penalised,' he added. In response to this policy vacuum, Hashed Emergent and Black Dot Public Policy Advisors on Monday released a discussion paper called the COINS Act, aimed at jumpstarting dialogue around crypto regulation. The proposal, supported by Bharat Web3 Association members, suggested voluntary registration, sandbox environments for startups and clearer enforcement norms.
Time of India
16 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Mid-year update: Crypto thefts top $2.17 billion in 2025, shows data
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills Crypto thefts in 2025 had already crossed USD 2.17 billion before last week's USD 44 million CoinDCX hack , underlining relentless cyber threat escalation in the digital currency world, according to the latest analytics platform Chainalysis ' 2025 crypto crime mid-year update says that over USD 2.17 billion was stolen from cryptocurrency services so far in 2025, and "this year is more devastating than the entirety of 2024".By the end of June 2025, 17 per cent more value had been stolen year-to-date (YTD) than in 2022, previously the worst year on $1.5 billion hack of ByBit, the largest single hack in crypto history, accounts for the majority of service far in 2025, significant concentrations of stolen fund victims have emerged in the US, Germany, Russia, Canada, Japan, Indonesia, and South Korea, it said."Regionally, Eastern Europe, MENA, and CSAO (Central and Southern Asia and Oceania) saw the most rapid H1 2024 to H1 2025 growth in victim totals," it report revealed that threat actors who have compromised services tend to exhibit higher levels of sophistication than those targeting personal USD 1.5 billion, the ByBit hack not only represents the largest crypto theft in history, but also accounts for approximately 69 per cent of all funds stolen from services this year, Chainalysis said."The sophistication and scale of this attack underscore the evolving capabilities of state-sponsored threat actors in the crypto space, and comes after a notable slowdown in the second half of 2024," it report assumes significance in the backdrop of Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX suffering a security breach, resulting in theft of USD 44.2 million, or Rs 378 co-founders Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal took to the social media platform X to reassure that customer funds remained unaffected and safe, with the compromise limited to an internal operational total exposure is being absorbed entirely by CoinDCX, using the company's treasury reserves, the company said in a First Incident Report released on year, crypto exchange WazirX faced a hack in India, leading to the loss of more than USD 230 million, and marking one of the biggest such heists in India. The theft had prompted a thorough examination of safety measures and eroded other notable cryptocurrency thefts are those involving Cetus Protocol, which saw losses estimated between USD 200-260 million in May this year, and BigONE, which suffered a theft of USD 27 million in July 2025.
New Indian Express
16 hours ago
- Business
- New Indian Express
CoinDCX launches recovery bounty after crypto theft
BENGALURU: Crypto exchange CoinDCX on Monday announced the launch of its Recovery Bounty Programme, which will offer up to 25 per cent of the recovered assets. The initiative aims to retrieve impacted funds and assist in the identification and conviction of the attackers. Last week, the exchange lost $44 million (about ₹368 crore) worth of assets in a cyberattack. CoinDCX stated that 25 per cent of all successfully recovered funds will be awarded to partners who play an active role in retrieving the stolen crypto and assisting in the identification and conviction of the attackers. The bounty pool has the potential to reach up to $11 million in value, in the event of a full recovery. Last year, a cyberattack on WazirX led to the theft of approximately ₹2,000 crore worth of funds. Later, in September, the exchange filed a moratorium application in a Singapore court. 'Cybercrime is an attack on trust. When one of us is targeted, all of us are affected. CoinDCX is committed to turning this incident into an opportunity to strengthen defenses, reinforce transparency, and work with the best minds in the industry to make recovery real and replicable,' said Neeraj Khandelwal, Co-founder of CoinDCX. 'We are collaborating with exchange partners to block and recover assets. At the same time, we are launching a bounty program. Thank you for the overwhelming support and kind messages from this wonderful community during these challenging times. Your trust means everything to us, and we're more committed than ever to uphold it. We will emerge from this stronger, together,' he added. Most of CoinDCX's funds reside in two wallets, SOL – holding 155,830 SOL (~$27.6 million) and ETH – holding approximately 4,443 ETH (~$15.7 million) Founded in 2018, CoinDCX is India's largest cryptocurrency exchange, with 1.9 crore registered users. Its global investors include Pantera, Steadview Capital, Kingsway, Polychain Capital, B Capital Group, Bain Capital Ventures, Cadenza, Draper Dragon, Republic, Kindred, and Coinbase Ventures.
