Sumit Gupta, CEO of Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX, has publicly refuted recent reports suggesting that his company is in advanced acquisition talks with U.S. crypto giant Coinbase for nearly $1 billion. The denial comes shortly after an Indian news outlet published the acquisition rumors and weeks after CoinDCX experienced a significant security breach.
On Monday, Indian news outlet Mint reported that Coinbase was in “advanced discussions” to acquire CoinDCX, citing two anonymous sources. However, Gupta swiftly addressed the speculation in an X (formerly Twitter) post on Tuesday, stating, “Ignore the rumours! CoinDCX is ‘super focused’ on building for India’s crypto story and not up for sale. Will share more later but just wanted to clarify this upfront!”
The acquisition rumors surfaced approximately eleven days after CoinDCX disclosed a $44.2 million hack on July 18. Attackers reportedly breached an operational wallet within minutes by compromising an internal account used for “liquidity provisions” with another exchange through a server breach. Despite the significant sum, CoinDCX CEO Sumit Gupta confirmed that no user funds were affected, attributing this to the exchange’s robust security protocols. In response to the incident, CoinDCX announced a new recovery bounty program last week, offering white hat hackers up to 25% of any recovered funds they help trace and retrieve.
Meanwhile, Coinbase has been actively expanding its global footprint and engaging in a series of acquisitions. The company registered with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in March, signaling a potential intent to deepen its presence in the world’s most populous country. In May, Coinbase finalized a $2.9 billion cash-and-stock acquisition of Deribit, aiming to solidify its position in the crypto derivatives market. Earlier this month, it also acquired Liquifi, a token-management platform designed for early-stage on-chain builders.
