CoinDCX cofounders detained in India over alleged fraud; exchange says counterfeit sites behind losses

Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal, cofounders of CoinDCX, India's largest cryptocurrency exchange, have been arrested by Thane police on suspicion of fraud and remanded in custody until today, The Block reported, cited by ChainCatcher. The investigation follows a complaint from an insurance adviser who says he lost about $85,000 in an investment scam he believed was connected to CoinDCX. CoinDCX denied the allegations, calling the complaint "false". The exchange said the fraud was conducted by impersonators operating counterfeit websites rather than through its official platform, adding that it has logged reports of more than 1,200 fake sites mimicking its domain since April 2024. The arrests mark the second police detention involving CoinDCX-linked individuals in under a year. In July 2025, a software engineer tied to the exchange's $44 million hack was arrested. Founded in 2018, CoinDCX reached a $2.45 billion valuation in October 2025 after raising investment from Coinbase Ventures.