September 25, 2025
By Anjali Kochhar
What started in a small village in Madhya Pradesh has become a leading force in India’s crypto space. Sumit Gupta, cofounder of CoinDCX, grew up near Shivpuri and went on to build India’s first crypto unicorn, steering the company through bans, market turbulence, and bold expansions.
Gupta’s journey began during his years at IIT Bombay, where he immersed himself in the startup ecosystem. He often visited young ventures after class to learn the workings of scaling a company. After college, Gupta worked for a year at Sony in Japan, gaining exposure to large organisation structures and operations. During that time, he also encountered Bitcoin, though not initially as a career focus.
The idea for CoinDCX took shape around 2016, when Gupta heard friends and peers talk about investing and trading in crypto. Many were using international apps that were not tailored for Indian users and often confusing to use. That insight spurred Gupta to collaborate with his IIT peer, Neeraj Khandelwal. Gupta brought fundraising, business, and vision skills, while Khandelwal handled technology and scaling. Together, they began trading crypto themselves to map out pain points such as liquidity issues, opaque pricing, and complex interfaces, and then designed a platform that would simplify crypto access for Indians.
CoinDCX was officially launched in March 2018 from a two bedroom apartment in Mumbai. However, early momentum was disrupted when the Reserve Bank of India imposed a banking ban on crypto exchanges, blocking deposit and withdrawal services. The founders responded swiftly, pivoting to a peer to peer crypto to crypto model that bypassed fiat involvement and kept operations running. Many early angel investors pulled back, though a few, like Utsav Somani, stayed in and provided much needed support.
When India’s Supreme Court lifted the crypto banking ban in March 2020, CoinDCX reintroduced INR trading pairs and banking services and saw rapid growth. By August 2021, the startup achieved unicorn status, becoming India’s first crypto unicorn. Over time, CoinDCX raised about US$247 million from investors including Pantera Capital, B Capital Group, Steadview Capital, Polychain Capital, and Coinbase Ventures.
In 2024, CoinDCX acquired UAE based crypto exchange BitOasis to expand into the Middle East and North Africa region. As of 2025, the company says it has crossed one million registered users.
On performance metrics, CoinDCX reports annualised revenue of ₹1,179 crore, underpinned by ₹13.7 lakh crore in annualised transaction volume across its products. Its assets under custody exceed ₹10,000 crore, underscoring growing trust from users and market maturity. In H1 2025 alone, the platform recorded ₹23,497 crore in spot trading volume, up 37 percent year over year.
Gupta notes that India’s regulatory stance toward crypto is evolving. He points to meaningful shifts in policy, including defined frameworks for anti money laundering, KYC, taxation, and compliance. He expects the Crypto Asset Reporting Framework to take effect in 2026 and sees India becoming a hub for Web3 innovation.
CoinDCX’s mission, Gupta says, is to make crypto accessible, secure, and compliant for every Indian, ideally positioning the platform as India’s gateway to Web3.
About the author
Anjali Kochhar covers cryptocurrency and blockchain stories in India as well as globally. Having been in the field of media and journalism for over four years now, she has developed a sharp news sense and works hard to present information that goes beyond the obvious. She is an avid reader and loves writing on a wide range of subjects.
