India’s Financial Crimes Agency Searches CoinDCX, Delta Exchange Over Offshore Trades

India’s Enforcement Directorate has searched three premises in Bengaluru linked to crypto exchanges CoinDCX and Delta Exchange, alleging the platforms carried out unauthorized cross-border transactions worth hundreds of millions of dollars through crypto derivatives and tokenized assets.

The searches were carried out on November 4 and 5 under India’s Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), the agency, India’s main financial crimes investigator, said in a statement dated November 6, which it shared on X on Thursday.

The investigation targets Neblio Technologies, which operates CoinDCX, and Excelium Technologies, which runs Delta Exchange. Both platforms offered futures and options on crypto tokens and openly advertised trading in tokenized shares of foreign companies, despite not being authorized to do so, according to the agency.

How the trades allegedly worked

The Enforcement Directorate alleged that CoinDCX used stablecoins such as USDT to carry out trades for its users on foreign crypto exchanges, including Binance, KuCoin, Bybit and Gate.io, bypassing India’s framework for sending money abroad.

When users deposited rupees and placed spot or derivatives orders, CoinDCX converted the funds into USDT and opened matching positions on the foreign exchanges, the agency said. The trades ran through accounts held in the name of a Costa Rica-based group entity, which it described as a shell entity, and were carried out directly from CoinDCX through APIs.

Trades in tokenized shares of companies such as Apple, Google and Tesla were in fact derivatives positions opened on decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, according to the agency.

The Enforcement Directorate alleged that the cross-border transactions in each of these areas ran to hundreds of millions of dollars. It also said CoinDCX holds crypto assets in enterprise accounts on foreign exchanges, and has paid tens of millions of dollars in fees to those platforms in USDT, in breach of FEMA.

The agency said a large share of Delta Exchange’s derivatives trading was executed through CoinDCX, and that Delta Exchange had transferred tens of millions of dollars to its overseas group entities, which is under investigation. Their fintech products also appear to contravene India’s securities and central banking laws, it said, adding that its investigation is ongoing.

CoinDCX said in a tweet on November 6 that Enforcement Directorate officials had visited its Bengaluru office “as part of a routine enquiry” on November 4, and that it had fully cooperated. The exchange said it operates “in strict compliance with all applicable Indian laws, including FEMA,” and adheres to its KYC, anti-money laundering and reporting obligations as an entity registered with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit. Trading, deposits and withdrawals on the platform remain fully operational, it added.

Delta Exchange said in its own tweet on November 6 that it had cooperated fully with officials, and that its business “does not involve any cross-border transfer of VDAs in any form or manner,” using India’s term for crypto assets. It said it runs a dedicated rupee-settled exchange for Indian users only, has been registered with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit since 2023, and that trading, deposits and withdrawals were functioning normally.

A turbulent year for CoinDCX

The investigation adds to a difficult stretch for CoinDCX, one of India’s largest crypto exchanges. Last month, it confirmed a $16 million loss from retired wallets, days after co-founder and CEO Sumit Gupta called reports of a breach a “false alarm.” That followed a roughly $44 million exploit in July 2025.

Coinbase, which has invested in CoinDCX since 2020, won approval from India’s competition regulator to increase its minority stake in the exchange’s parent company.