CoinDCX secures $90 million funding to become a unicorn, is spring coming for the Indian crypto market?

Recently, cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX raised $90 million (approximately ₹6.68 billion) in its Series C funding round, led by B Capital, co-founded by Facebook's Eduardo Saverin. A company executive stated that Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, Block.one, Jump Capital, and other angel investors also participated in this round of financing.

This funding round has led to an external valuation of CoinDCX at $1.1 billion, making the company the first cryptocurrency firm in India to achieve unicorn status.

CoinDCX's co-founder and CEO Sumit Gupta stated that the funds will be used for marketing, strengthening the team, and new business plans. The company has currently allocated $1.34 million for its cross-platform educational program. In the next six months, its team will double from the existing 180 people.

"In the coming months, CoinDCX will also launch the CoinDCX Prime program, which is its latest product in the HNI and corporate space, offering legally vetted and secure investments, as well as CoinDCX's global trading product Cosmex," Gupta added.

CoinDCX was founded in 2018 by Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal to help people buy and sell crypto tokens. It also offers other crypto-based financial products, such as loans. The exchange has 3.5 million users, and its user base has more than doubled in the past two months.

Despite regulatory uncertainties, interest in crypto platforms among the mainstream in India has been rising this year, with an increasing number of investors and users.

CoinDCX has been competing with WazirX, which is owned by Binance and has over 7 million users.

Currently, CoinDCX ranks 45th in the Coinmarket overall rankings, with a total trading volume of $49,353,619. WazirX ranks 26th, with a trading volume of $187,533,350. There are also a few other cryptocurrency exchanges, including ZebPay.

Before CoinDCX's official announcement, the crypto platform Vauld raised funding earlier this year from PayPal founder Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures, and the cryptocurrency investment platform Coinswitch Kuber also received investment from Tiger Global.

Despite proposals for bans and calls for major banks to cut off access to Indian cryptocurrency exchanges, the rapid growth of the emerging industry and investor interest remain strong.

International investors with experience in navigating uncertain regulatory environments in other countries and industries are not shying away from investing in India's crypto business, even as most Indian funds take a cautious approach.

"Most new markets face regulatory uncertainty," said an executive from a blue-chip venture capital fund.