Coinbase now holds a minority stake in India’s CoinDCX crypto exchange. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the deal on December 16. While Coinbase has not released details about the amount it has poured into the exchange, reports claim that the deal has pushed CoinDCX valuation to over $2.45 billion.
“CCI approves the proposed combination involving acquisition of minority shareholding in DCX Global Limited by Coinbase Global Inc,” the competition watchdog of India said in its official confirmation letter released this week. DCX is the parent entity of CoinDCX, incorporated in Mauritius.
Source: cci.gov.in
Paul Grewal, the chief legal officer at Coinbase said CCI’s approval marks a major regulatory milestone with CoinDCX.
In July this year, speculations suggesting that Coinbase wanted to acquire CoinDCX with an offer that would value the Indian exchange at $900 million – had started to make the rounds. The rumour mills stopped after CoinDCX honcho Sumit Gupta clarified that the Mumbai-headquartered exchange was not up for sale.
This fresh investment in CoinDCX is not Coinbase’s first such engagement with the Indian exchange. The U.S.-based platform has been an investor in CoinDCX since 2020. In May that year, Coinbase Ventures had co-invested in CoinDCX in a $2.5 million funding round alongside Polychain Capital and reportedly participated in other such rounds as well.
As per rumors from earlier this year, Coinbase could also be exploring a similar deal with CoinSwitch, another prominent crypto player native to India.
After having halted India operations due to regulatory challenges in 2022, Coinbase re-entered the world’s most populated country this year in March. It secured its registration with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) — legitimizing its operations.