CoinDCX hit by $44.2 million security breach

Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX has suffered a security breach, resulting in theft of $44.2 million, or Rs 378 crore, even as the founders took to X to reassure that customer funds remained unaffected and safe, with the compromise limited to an internal operational account.

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The total exposure is being absorbed entirely by CoinDCX, using the company’s treasury reserves, the company said in a First Incident Report released on Sunday.

According to the report, on July 19, at 4 am IST, CoinDCX security systems detected an incident involving unauthorised access to one of its accounts on the partner exchange, leading to a financial exposure of about $44 million.

The incident once again puts the spotlight on mounting security threats in the highly volatile world of cryptocurrencies. Last year, crypto exchange WazirX faced a hack in India, leading to the loss of more than $230 million, and marking one of the biggest such heists in India. The theft had prompted a thorough examination of safety measures and eroded sentiments.

CoinDCX co-founders Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal took to X to address the situation, confirming that the attack was the result of a sophisticated server breach, targeting an internal wallet, not the ones holding customer assets.