CoinDCX: India’s First Crypto Unicorn

The 3.5-year journey of CoinDCX that led us to become the first crypto unicorn of India has never been short of firsts. Since its inception in 2018, CoinDCX has always been at the forefront of crypto innovations. Be it joining hands with IAMAI to petition and fight to overturn the RBI’s banking ban or conducting a nationwide survey; ‘Mood of the Nation’; to figure out the basic requirements of the customers. All contributing to the common vision of making crypto accessible to the Indian mass and their aim to onboard 50 million Indians into crypto. 

A series of firsts by CoinDCX:

• The first crypto unicorn of India
• First to introduce Insta, Liquidity Aggregation, Margin, Lending, and Futures in India
• CoinDCX was the first to introduce Staking 
• DCX Learn was the first crypto exchange led learning platform in India
• First to introduce a dedicated app for Crypto Beginners with CoinDCX Go
• First to introduce Automated KYC with Onfido
• First to introduce Insurance through BitGo
• First to onboard AML Tool in crypto using Coinfirm
• First to introduce a 7M Framework – a framework for shortlisting tokens
• First to introduce Structured and Institutionalized OTC Trading
• First to Build an AMM in India

To understand how CoinDCX has paved the way for itself, let us take a ride through the timeline. 

Key Events and Timeline 

1st Year of CoinDCX

The inception year for CoinDCX has been a roller coaster ride at its best. A couple of days prior to the launch, the RBI’s Banking Ban was circulated. Though this did not mean people could not trade in cryptocurrencies, it prevented the banks to join hands with any crypto exchanges. That was enough to fuel the momentum and start CoinDCX with one vision – Cryptocurrency Adoption. Thus, CoinDCX was launched as the largest Crypto to Crypto (C2C) Exchange with an innovative liquidity aggregation model. At the time it allowed 30+ cryptocurrencies to be traded in the BTC and ETH markets. 

The second big milestone was achieved on August 15, 2018, when CoinDCX launched Insta, the fastest FIAT On Ramp Off Ramp with zero trading fee. Investors and traders could buy 80+ cryptocurrencies with INR in less than a minute. Following the success of Insta, it was evident that the Indian mass was getting familiarized with the crypto space. 

To keep the promise of making crypto accessible CoinDCX compiled the next product, Lend. It provided an opportunity for the traders to earn passive income through cryptocurrencies that they held in their CoinDCX accounts and earn up to 16% interest on major cryptocurrencies like BTC and USDT. Holding their cryptocurrencies for a minimum of 7 days on the platform ensures that earning interests on the same. 

Download India’s Most Valued Crypto Investment App in India, CoinDCX

2nd Year of CoinDCX

The second year of CoinDCX was dedicated to file a petition and join hands with IAMAI to fight the RBI’s banking ban. This also includes the aim to introduce the decentralized nature of the finance sector in the centralized world. Not only that, but they also raised a whopping $ 0.5 million in seed funding, led by Bain Capital Ventures, Sanjay Mehta, Sung Ho Choi, Karn Nagpal, Jatin Aneja, Rafael Ugolini, and Utsav Somani. Besides making crypto an easy inclusion in portfolios, CoinDCX also went ahead and updated their products; Insta and Lend for a seamless trading experience. 

This brings us to the third year of CoinDCX; when all the efforts of the crypto community helped CoinDCX retain the main aim to easily make Crypto accessible to the Indian mass and then some. This was the unfathomable year of what a strong and dedicated community can bring forth in a country beaming with potential! 

3rd Year of CoinDCX

India’s Fintech Industry has always had experiences with major disruptions. Surprisingly in 2020, after the Supreme Court squashed RBI’s banking ban on crypto, there has been an upsurge in financial literacy amongst Indians. Crypto assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many more have seen a huge demand as an alternate investment option not just in the global markets but also in the Indian crypto space! To aid proper information about the new asset class, CoinDCX introduced DCX Learn; a free online educational portal on the basics of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. CoinDCX has also partnered with Zubi and Blockchain Council to provide detailed and easily explained courses on the same. 

As the crypto space started to understand how similar and different cryptocurrencies are from stock markets, CoinDCX introduces their flagship campaign #TryCrypto to encourage the investors and traders to start dabbling with cryptos; starting with a minimum of INR 100. The movement was a grand success, owing to the amazing crypto community of India. As there was mass adoption of crypto in India, the next question of utmost importance to the readers and investors was regarding how safe and secure the asset class was. To help assure the crypto community further, CoinDCX onboarded industry-best security measures via BitGo; a $100 million insurance policy to assure the safety of the investor’s fund, and Onfido; who helped digitally automate the entire KYC process for faster and smoother onboarding.

The involvement of expert traders demanded more innovative products, catering to which Futures and Stake came into being. Futures is a highly advanced product built for expert traders, providing global liquidity in the futures market. While Staking made it possible for traders to earn passive income on ONE, QTUM, and TRX. Following the achievements and popularity of the crypto space in 2020, it is defined as a year for the Indian crypto industry! As a result of which newer investors were on the rise. To help them have a seamless experience of safe, secure, and compliant investing, CoinDCX launched CoinDCX Go; the simplest Bitcoin investment app. This app allowed investors to set Price alerts and garnered 150k users within the first 3 months of its launch. Apart from the crypto industry being on the rise, CoinDCX had an amazing 2020 as well! We reached a team strength of 115 members from 80 in just 3 months. 

2021 for CoinDCX so far

CoinDCX’s culture of compliance has enabled them to be one of the pioneers in India to implement crypto AML monitoring. To further strengthen the proper usage of all the policies, CoinDCX has collaborated with Coinfirm to ensure full compliance with the Financial Action Task Force’s Recommendations, along with other supernational and national regulations. This has helped the exchange to keep track of transactions made on the blockchain by their users, and flag illicit transactions to the team for appropriate action. The cryptocurrency having only 1% penetration in India, compared to the USA’s 10%, which shows that the crypto space is still at its nascent stage and growing rapidly. With the rapid growth of the crypto space, it was also a milestone moment when CoinDCX Go’s userbase surpassed 3.5 million!  

To conclude, CoinDCX is dedicated to building itself on the basis of making crypto easy, simple, and secure for the crypto community. The achievement of being the first crypto unicorn of India only cements the commitment of providing you with simpler solutions and more innovative products from CoinDCX. There are various projects already in the pipeline, coming to you very soon! Keep an eye out for a surprise launch!