Indian Crypto Exchange CoinDCX Suffers $44M Hack

Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX has suffered a $44 million security breach on Friday, after hackers managed to compromise an internal account used for liquidity operations with an unnamed partner exchange.

The platform’s co-founder and CEO Sumit Gupta disclosed the exploit on Saturday, describing it as a “sophisticated server breach.” The disclosure of the breach came only after popular blockchain sleuth ZachXBT revealed the breach on his Telegram channel.

While the attack affected an operational wallet, Gupta said that customer assets were untouched and remain securely stored in cold wallets.

"The incident was quickly contained by isolating the affected operational account,” Gupta said in a public statement. “Since our operational accounts are segregated from customer wallets, the exposure is only limited to this specific account and is being fully absorbed by us - from our own treasury reserves.”

ZachXBT traced the attacker’s movements, noting that the wallet involved was funded via crypto mixing service Tornado Cash. A portion of the stolen crypto was later bridged from Solana to Ethereum.

The timing of the hack carries an unsettling echo: it occurred exactly one year after another Indian exchange, WazirX, was hacked for $235 million.

CoinDCX says it is working with cybersecurity partners to investigate the breach, and is working with exchange partners to recover freeze and recover assets.

Read more: Indian Crypto Exchange CoinDCX Denies Moving User Funds After WazirX Allegations