CoinDCX becomes India’s first crypto unicorn as it joins the leagues of Binance, Robinhood, Ripple, and others

• Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX has joined the crypto unicorn club after completing its latest round of funding.
• The billion dollar startup is now in the same tier as its global counterparts Binance, Ripple, Robinhood and others.
• The exchange plans on using its new funds to hire new talent and roll out fresh products for its wealthy investors.

Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX is India’s first cryptocurrency exchange to be valued at over $1 billion. The startup has raised $90 million during its Series C round of funding, led by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin.

In the world of cryptocurrencies, the company's valuation is ‘going to the moon’ — that is to say, it’s off the charts.

With its new billion dollar tag, CoinDCX has joined the league of Binance, which backs the crypto exchange WazirX in India, as well as Bitpanda, BlockFi, Chainalysis, Ripple — behind the hotly debated XRP cryptocurrency — and the controversial Robinhood.

In addition to Saverin, existing investors Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, Block.one and Jump Capital also participated in the round.

The development comes amid regulatory uncertainty in India over the status of cryptocurrencies. While the country’s apex bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), still seems to be on the fence about private cryptocurrencies, the Indian government is reportedly softening its stance on the issue.

“I am pretty sure the industry will be regulated at the right time,” co-founder and chief executive (CEO), Sumit Gupta, told Bloomberg. “We have chosen to put at stake our money and career as we feel this is going to be a very good wealth generation opportunity for people.”

What is CoinDCX going to do with the fresh influx of capital?

The company plans on using the money to double their manpower over the next six months. It currently has a workforce of around 200 with the goal of hitting 400 by December.

CoinDCX also plans on launching new products in the coming months targeting wealthy individuals.

The company, founded by an Indian entrepreneur and focused on Indian investors, is registered as Primestack Pte. in Singapore. It hopes to expand its existing user base to 50 million from 3.5 million over the next few years with the underlying aim of educating users about crypto and blockchain.

“We [India] have a very tech savvy population, good mobile penetration, a big base of engineers and developers who can leverage blockchain technology,” said Gupta, the 30-year old engineer who graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay.

India’s regulatory FUD

Fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) around regulation of crypto in the Indian context has not yet been addressed. The country’s crypto bill — Banning of Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2019 — was set to be tabled for government approval in February, earlier this year.

However, due to the rapid onset of COVID-19’s second wave, the bill was never tabled in Parliament.

According to Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, the crypto bill was just waiting for the cabinet’s green light. But, contrary to expectations, it has not been put up for discussion during the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Parliament either.

IndiaTech CEO, Rameesh Kailasam, told Business Insider that the Indian government is most likely looking to form a new committee to reframe the law as it looks to take a softer stance on the crypto industry.

"Considering the Supreme Court had lifted the ban on cryptocurrencies and subsequently the onus was on RBI and the government of India to bring in necessary regulations. Therefore a ban route may not be ideally plausible," he said during an earlier interview.

The new funds will, in part, also go towards setting up a research and development facility, strengthening policy conversations through public discourse, and introducing favourable regulations.

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