CoinDCX, India’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, is expanding internationally through the acquisition of BitOasis, a digital asset platform in the Middle East and North Africa, the companies said on Wednesday.
The Bengaluru-based startup said the BitOasis team is joining CoinDCX, with the original leadership continuing to manage the exchange, which offers trading in more than 60 tokens. BitOasis will also retain its brand, CoinDCX told TechCrunch.
Dubai-based BitOasis had secured more than $40 million in funding during its eight-year history. The two companies did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, but a CoinDCX spokesperson told TechCrunch that BitOasis investors will receive shares in CoinDCX, adding that the deal was a win-win for BitOasis backers.
The expansion comes amid a prolonged period of regulatory hostility towards cryptocurrencies in India, with the local central bank putting pressure on other lenders to avoid doing business with crypto firms. India remains one of the least friendly jurisdictions for crypto traders, imposing a 30% tax on digital asset profits.
The regulatory environment, coupled with the downturn in the broader market, has forced the leading crypto companies in India to find other ways to sustain their growth. CoinDCX launched a decentralized exchange in 2022 and is aggressively working to expand it.
The parent company of CoinSwitch Kuber, India’s other unicorn crypto exchange — and a key rival of CoinDCX — has diversified its offerings to include equity and mutual fund investments in the past year.
CoinDCX — which is backed by B Capital, Coinbase, Pantera and Steadview — was valued at $2.1 billion in a 2022 funding round.
Local exchanges benefited from India’s ban on Binance and more than half a dozen other international crypto exchanges this year for failing to comply with local anti-money laundering rules. Several of these exchanges, including Binance, are now in contact with the Indian authority and are working on compliance. They are expected to resume operations in India in the coming weeks.
CoinDCX, which processes transaction volumes north of $800 million each quarter, aims to become the “global crypto trading platform,” said CoinDCX co-founder and CEO Sumit Gupta. “Our expansion strategy starts with MENA [Middle East and North Africa] region, capitalizing on its mature market and the population’s strong interest in investing in crypto.”
BitOasis said it has processed $6 billion in transaction volume since its inception in 2016.
