India's cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX has confirmed losing approximately $16 million in USDT from compromised deposit wallets. The October 25 acknowledgment came three days after the company's CEO dismissed reports of suspicious activity as a false alarm.
On October 21, blockchain observers identified approximately 15.99 million USDT leaving CoinDCX-linked addresses on the Tron network, with the funds subsequently distributed to several major cryptocurrency exchanges. On October 22, CEO Sumit Gupta rejected the initial reports, arguing that the addresses had been compromised during a previous breach and were no longer part of the exchange's active infrastructure.
Automated System Failure and Wallet Issues
CoinDCX explained that some customers continued depositing funds into obsolete addresses despite company warnings. An automated system designed to transfer those deposits into secure wallets had malfunctioned, allowing balances to accumulate in the compromised addresses.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT disputed the company's explanation, pointing to evidence that certain addresses remained operational months after the 2025 breach. Bitquery's independent analysis similarly identified continued wallet activity into October 2026.
Financial Impact and Customer Protection
CoinDCX stated that customer accounts were credited for the loss, cold-storage holdings remained untouched, and trading and withdrawals continued normally. The exchange has now absorbed nearly $60 million in losses across two security incidents spanning 15 months.
The company maintains that customer funds remain secure and that the financial impact has been absorbed entirely by CoinDCX.
