BENGALURU: Cryptocurrency exchange platform CoinDCX has raised $2.5 million as a part of its strategic funding round led by crypto investment platform – Polychain Capital.
Coinbase Ventures, the investment arm of San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, is a new investor and participated in this round. This marks Coinbase’s first investment in an Indian blockchain company.
This fund-raise comes two months after the startup had raised $3 million as a part of its Series A funding round, also led by Polychain Capital, in which Bain Capital Ventures and HDR Group had participated.
The company said the current funds will be utilised to launch newer products within India for retail investors, build a team, and to run educational initiatives for adoption of cryptocurrency in the country.
As a part of its educational initiative, CoinDCX plans to roll out ‘Academy’, a blockchain and cryptocurrency learning program aimed toward first-time and novice cryptocurrency traders.
“The recent months have shown that the cryptocurrency industry in India is finally getting the recognition it deserves from global corporations and investors. Our relationship with Polychain Capital goes from strength to strength, reflecting our great partnership with the Polychain team. We are also excited to add Coinbase Ventures as an investor,” said Sumit Gupta, chief executive and co-founder of CoinDCX.
In March, the Supreme Court quashed a ban imposed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on trading of virtual currencies.
The RBI, in 2018, had barred banks and registered financial institutions from providing services in relation to virtual currencies as a part of iIts circular titled ‘Prohibition on dealing in Virtual Currencies (VCs)’.
“We have worked closely with CoinDCX from an early stage, and have continued to be impressed by the team and vision. Their thoughtful insights into the Indian market as well as their long-term product roadmap have strengthened our belief in the potential of the business,” said Olaf Carlson-Wee, founder of Polychain Capital.
“In working with Sumit, Neeraj, and their team at CoinDCX, we see a team that shares our approach of building trust with their customers. As India continues to close the gap between the crypto economy and the mainstream market, CoinDCX is strongly positioned to become the leading platform that consumers in the country interact with crypto through,” said Shan Aggarwal, head of Coinbase Ventures.
CoinDCX claims that it saw a 47% growth in trading volumes and a sharp growth in daily active users in March after the Supreme Court scrapped the RBI ban.
