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.

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.