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CoinDCX confirms $16M loss after CEO called reports a ‘false alarm’

India’s largest crypto exchange says an internal sweeping failure left funds exposed in wallets retired after 2025 hack

By LineZotpaper AI staff

Published26 October 2026

Updated26 October 2026

Read Time2 min

Sources2 outlets

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Illustration: CoinDCX confirms $16M loss after CEO called reports a ‘false alarm’

CoinDCX, India’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, has confirmed it lost $15.99 million after an internal process failed to move customer deposits out of wallets it had retired following a 2025 hack, contradicting CEO Sumit Gupta’s earlier insistence that reports of suspicious outflows were a 'false alarm.'

The Mumbai-based exchange published a blog post on Sunday acknowledging the loss, which it said it has absorbed itself. The funds moved on the Tron network on Oct. 21, and the company traced the incident to a failure in an automated sweeping system meant to transfer customer deposits from deprecated wallet addresses into CoinDCX’s primary hot wallet.

The deprecated wallets had been compromised in the July 2025 hack that cost the exchange about $44 million. After that breach, CoinDCX said it stopped using the addresses, but some customers continued sending funds there. The exchange credited those users’ portfolios immediately but relied on the sweeping process to move the money, a process that failed for a particular period, allowing deposits to accumulate.

On Oct. 22, blockchain sleuths flagged roughly $16 million in outflows from those old wallets. Gupta initially responded on X (formerly Twitter) that CoinDCX’s wallets were "not breached" and that the flagged addresses had been compromised a year earlier, calling the reports a "false alarm." On-chain investigator ZachXBT pushed back, saying one of the addresses had still been sweeping user deposits into CoinDCX’s current hot wallet as recently as April and May 2026. ZachXBT urged users to withdraw their funds, calling the exchange’s leadership "clowns" and accusing the company of misleading the public.

CoinDCX’s blog post said the loss was 15.99 million USDT (roughly $16 million) and stressed that customer balances, active wallets and trading systems were unaffected. "We could have been more proactive, but we shared this update as soon as we had the complete picture," the exchange said.

Together with the 2025 hack, CoinDCX has now lost close to $60 million in two incidents. The exchange said it would share further details as its investigation continues.

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Analysis

Why This Matters

The incident erodes trust in one of India’s largest crypto platforms, especially after initial denial by the CEO
CoinDCX has now absorbed roughly $60 million in losses across two incidents, raising questions about internal controls
Customers who continued using the exchange after the 2025 hack face uncertainty about fund security

Background

CoinDCX suffered a $44 million hack in July 2025 that it blamed on a server breach, for which it compensated users and which led to an employee’s arrest. The deprecated wallets at the center of the new loss were a legacy of that hack, addresses the exchange stopped using but which kept receiving residual deposits. An automated sweeping system was supposed to clear them, but failed for a period, letting deposits pile up.

Key Perspectives

CoinDCX: says the loss was caused by an internal process failure, not a new hack; that it absorbed the $15.99 million loss; and that all customer funds remain safe in secure cold wallets. ZachXBT: accused the exchange’s co-founders of lying or incompetent denial, saying they "publicly and privately denied a theft of its assets occurred" and urged users to withdraw their funds.

What to Watch

Whether CoinDCX releases a detailed post-mortem identifying how the sweeping failure occurred and who moved the funds
Potential regulatory reaction from Indian authorities, given the exchange’s size and repeated security issues
User confidence: any shift in trading volume or withdrawals in the coming days

Sources

Checked

12 claims in this story checked against 2 sources: 10 supported.

Show each claim

SupportedCoinDCX confirmed a roughly $16 million loss after CEO Sumit Gupta had called reports a “false alarm.”Decrypt: “CoinDCX confirmed it lost 15.99 million USDT (~$16 million) after an internal process failed to sweep customer deposits out of wallets it retired following a 2025 hack. The admission reversed CEO Sumit Gupta’s earlier claim that breach reports were a “false alarm.””
SupportedGupta said CoinDCX’s wallets were “not breached” and described the reports as a “false alarm.”Decrypt: “writing that CoinDCX’s wallets were “not breached” and that the flagged addresses had been compromised back in July 2025, making the activity look like “a false alarm.””
Partly supportedCoinDCX lost $15.99 million.Decrypt: “CoinDCX confirmed it lost 15.99 million USDT (~$16 million)”
SupportedCoinDCX is India’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume.CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data: “CoinDCX, India’s largest crypto exchange by trading volumes, says it has absorbed a $16 million loss after an internal process failed to move customer deposits out of a retired wallet.”
SupportedAn internal sweeping failure left customer deposits exposed in wallets CoinDCX had retired after the 2025 hack.Decrypt: “The failure of an automated transfer system to clear them out left the funds exposed.”
SupportedThe company published a blog post on Sunday acknowledging the loss and said it had absorbed it itself.CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data: “On Sunday, CoinDCX published a blog post on the activity tied to TQKJQ, saying the wallet belongs to its old operational wallet infrastructure and that the loss was tied to it.”
SupportedThe funds moved on the Tron network on October 21.Decrypt: “The money moved on the Tron network on Oct. 21”
SupportedThe earlier July 2025 hack cost CoinDCX about $44 million.CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data: “the July 2025 hack, which cost the exchange about $44 million”
Not in the sourcesBlockchain sleuths flagged roughly $16 million in outflows on October 22.Decrypt: “When blockchain researchers and the Arkham tracker first flagged roughly $16 million in suspicious outflows”
SupportedZachXBT said at least one address had swept user deposits into CoinDCX’s current hot wallet as recently as April and May 2026.CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data: “ZachXBT, a well-known on-chain investigator, said at least one of those addresses, labeled TQKJQ, was in use by a liquidity provider and swept user deposits to CoinDCX’s current public hot wallet as recently as April and May 2026.”
SupportedZachXBT urged users to withdraw their funds, called CoinDCX’s co-founders “clowns,” and accused them of lying or being negligently incompetent.Decrypt: “Withdraw all funds from CoinDCX if you value your assets. Its co-founders are clowns running a circus. They publicly and privately denied a theft of its assets occurred meaning they straight up lied or are negligently incompetent.”
SupportedCoinDCX said, “We could have been more proactive, but we shared this update as soon as we had the complete picture.”CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data: ““It took us some time to do the thorough review of the deprecated infrastructure and confirm the sequence of events. We could have been more proactive, but we shared this update as soon as we had the complete picture,” it added.”