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Time of India
21-07-2025
- 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.
Economic Times
21-07-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
How safe are your crypto assets after CoinDCX's Rs 368 crore hack?
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads What happened? Crypto TrackerPowered By TOP COINS TOP COIN SETS XRP 307.67 ( 3.41 %) Buy Ethereum 3,27,005 ( 3.21 %) Buy BNB 65,627 ( 2.23 %) Buy Bitcoin 1,03,00,831 ( 1.24 %) Buy Tether 86.28 ( 0.13 %) Buy Services remain stable, but questions linger Popular in Markets 1. System vs System: Why crypto needs a culture of relentless security Experts stress the need for stronger industry norms CoinDCX response and roadmap Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Why this matters India's leading cryptocurrency exchange, CoinDCX , recently suffered a security breach resulting in a loss of approximately $44.2 million (Rs 368 crore). While the company quickly reassured users that no customer assets were affected, the incident has reignited concerns over the security of crypto platforms and what more must be done to protect users in an increasingly hostile cyber disclosed on Saturday that one of its internal operational accounts — used for liquidity provisioning on a partner exchange — was compromised following a "sophisticated server breach." The company emphasized that the breach was limited to this internal wallet and did not impact user funds 'Today, one of our internal operational accounts — used only for liquidity provisioning on a partner exchange — was compromised due to a sophisticated server breach,' said Sumit Gupta, Co-founder and CEO, in a post on X. 'I confirm that the CoinDCX wallets used to store customer assets are not impacted and are completely safe.'The compromised account was isolated quickly, and CoinDCX stated that it would absorb the entire loss from its treasury, with no impact on the breach, CoinDCX said that trading and INR withdrawals continued without interruption. However, some users reported issues accessing their portfolios due to increased server traffic, which were later blockchain analysts such as ZachXBT and cybersecurity firm Cyvers flagged the breach hours before the official announcement. The attacker reportedly transferred stablecoins (USDC and USDT) from Solana to Ethereum and used Tornado Cash to obscure the trail — a common tactic used to evade incident has raised concerns among industry experts, who say more robust, industry-wide security standards are critical.'The CoinDCX incident is a sobering reminder that no platform is immune to evolving cyber threats,' said Aishwary Gupta, Global Head of Payments at Polygon Labs. 'While it's commendable that user funds remained safe, this highlights the urgent need for industry-wide adoption of real-time monitoring, rigorous smart contract audits, and transparent incident disclosures. Security and user trust must go hand-in-hand as we build the next generation of financial infrastructure.'In response to the attack, CoinDCX said it is working with external cybersecurity experts and the affected partner exchange to identify vulnerabilities and trace the stolen assets. Gupta also mentioned plans to launch a bug bounty program to detect system flaws before they can be exploited.'Our internal security and operations teams have been working through the day along with leading cybersecurity partners to investigate the matter, patch any vulnerabilities, and trace the movement of funds,' Gupta company has not disclosed whether law enforcement or regulatory bodies have been engaged, but said updates will be shared with the community in real incident comes nearly a year after WazirX — another major Indian exchange — suffered a breach involving over $230 million. While WazirX paused withdrawals and faced criticism for delayed communication, CoinDCX's decision to take full financial responsibility may set a new benchmark for user-first broader concern now is whether crypto platforms are equipped to match the pace of increasingly sophisticated cyber threats — and whether India's regulatory framework can evolve quickly enough to safeguard retail investors.: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)
