Bengaluru Techie Arrested in ₹379 Cr CoinDCX Crypto Hack

The biggest crypto hack in India this year!

CoinDCX lost ₹379 crore $44M on July 19 after hackers drained an internal hot wallet. Thankfully, customer funds are safe as they are stored in cold wallets. The loss came from the company’s treasury.

A 30-year-old software engineer from Bengaluru has been arrested. Police say his login credentials were misused, possibly through a freelance gig. He allegedly received instructions via WhatsApp from a German number and was paid ₹15 lakh suspiciously.

The stolen funds were split across six wallets, and investigators suspect international links the possibly even North Korean hackers. CoinDCX has announced a 25% bounty $11M for any information that helps recover the stolen crypto.

This incident has started debates on crypto security and regulations in India.

What do you think? Should Indian crypto exchanges be forced to maintain stricter internal controls?