BENGALURU: Cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX has raised $90 million in its Series C funding round, despite an uncertain regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies in India. This makes CoinDCX the first crypto company in the country to enter the unicorn club at $1.1-billion valuation. The fresh fundraise was led by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital. Existing investors Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, Block.one also participated in the round.
The Indian government is yet to decide on the classification of cryptocurrencies even as the Reserve Bank of India as well as an official panel set up earlier had recommended banning the digital tokens.
Sumit Gupta, co-founder and CEO, CoinDCX, said the recent infusion of funds will be utilised in exploring partnerships with key fintech players to expand the crypto investor base, setting up R&D facilities, strengthening policy conversations through public discourse & contributing towards bringing favourable crypto regulations in India. The crypto industry is currently advocating the regulation of virtual currencies as digital assets.
“We aim to make a crypto digital asset class in India, these funds will be allocated to strengthen workforce, hiring talent across multiple functions & focus on new business initiatives,” Gupta added.
Major crypto exchanges in India have seen a huge jump in the user base and growth in daily trading volume.
“CoinDCX will be carrying forward the vision of making crypto accessible in India and accelerating efforts to bring 50 million Indians in crypto. We will continue to scale our dedicated products on the investments and trading side. Apart from retail, CoinDCX will also expand business lines, starting with the CoinDCX Prime initiative, a new offering in HNI & enterprise space, and Cosmex, a global trading product,” Gupta said.