$135M Series D Funding Pushes CoinDCX to $2.15B Valuation
Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX’s latest funding comes as investors reaffirm their belief in India’s ability to become the world’s leading cryptocurrency market despite official disinterest.
CoinDCX Raises $135M in Latest Series D Funding
CoinDCX, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange, has raised $135 million in its Series D fundraising round, valuing the company at over $2 billion. Pantera and Steadview led the round, which included participation from major investors such as Kingsway, DraperDragon, Republic, and Kindred.
CoinDCX’s previous investors, including B Capital Group, Coinbase, Polychain, and Cadenza, increased their stakes in the company during the newest funding round.
CoinDCX has stated that it will continue to educate and inform Indian investors about cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. In collaboration with universities and through its DCX Learn platform, it has developed a number of educational projects and campaigns aimed at increasing awareness and confidence in this new asset class. CoinDCX is also planning to open an innovation center in India in order to promote Web3 and blockchain development in the country further.
Additionally, the company intends to triple its workforce to more than 1,000 individuals by the end of 2022.
“The latest round by some of the largest institutional investors only reinforces the belief in India’s immense potential in the crypto ecosystem. With a shared vision of a digital-first economy, we see this round as a strong endorsement of the amazing work that CoinDCX has done for the ecosystem over the years and our plans for the future,” said Sumit Gupta, co-founder, and CEO, of CoinDCX.
“With a wide array of products built for India, and the commitment to building compliant, simple, and safe solutions, we are uniquely positioned to help forge greater understanding and trust between regulators, industry, and our users, ultimately helping accelerate the growth of Crypto adoption in India and further the march of Web3.0.”
CoinDCX Strives to Win Over Indian Regulators
Over the previous two weeks, the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) has distanced itself from cryptocurrency exchanges, while mobile payment wallet Mobikwik has barred users from accessing their accounts.
“Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is not available… but it is the easiest way for people to deposit money to make crypto transactions… We are trying hard to bring back UPI access,” Gupta said. “ We are engaged in discussions with the NPCI and relevant stakeholders on understanding the challenges and how we can solve them,” Gupta said.
In March, the industry petitioned the finance ministry to consider cutting the proposed 1% tax deducted at source to 0.01%, claiming that the proposed levy would likely eliminate the majority of trading activity on exchanges.
“A lower TDS threshold is definitely important because then people will actually be able to trade without worrying about the capital being locked,” he said. “ So it’s obvious that that will be a big boost to the trading revenues and also revenues for the government. But as of now, I think there’s still time till June for us, and discussions are happening…”
