India's CoinDCX Admits $16M Loss After Calling It a 'False Alarm'

One of India's biggest crypto exchanges just admitted it lost $16 million — after first insisting nothing was wrong.

CoinDCX is a crypto exchange (an online platform where people buy, sell, and store digital currencies). On October 21, attackers drained money from its wallet system. At first, CEO Sumit Gupta publicly said the reports were a "false alarm" and that the company's wallets were "not breached." Days later, the company reversed course and confirmed the loss.

What exactly happened:

• About 15.99 million USDT (~$16 million) was stolen. USDT is a stablecoin — a type of crypto designed to always be worth $1.
• The money moved on the Tron network (a blockchain, or digital ledger, used to send crypto).
• The theft came from old, retired wallets (digital accounts the company had stopped using). An automated system was supposed to empty these wallets but failed, leaving the funds exposed.

Why this looks bad for CoinDCX: Blockchain investigator ZachXBT disputed the company's early "false alarm" claim, pointing out the wallet was still receiving customer deposits as recently as April and May. He urged users to withdraw their funds immediately, calling the company's leaders "clowns running a circus" for denying the theft before admitting it.

This isn't the first problem:

• In July 2025, CoinDCX suffered a much bigger hack of around $44 million, which led to an employee's arrest.
• Combined, the two incidents total nearly $60 million in losses.
• The exchange also faced fraud and scam allegations this year that drew a police investigation.

The good news for customers: CoinDCX says it absorbed the loss itself, meaning user balances are safe and nobody's personal funds were taken.

The bottom line: This is a reminder that even large exchanges can be hit by security failures — and that how a company handles the truth matters as much as the loss itself. CoinDCX says its investigation continues.

This is an AI-generated summary. Read the original article at: https://decrypt.co/381834/india-coindcx-confirms-16-million-loss-ceo-called-false-alarm