CoinDCX loses about US$16 million from retired TRON deposit addresses; US$2.2 million frozen
Indian exchange CoinDCX lost about US$16M in USDT on 21 Oct from old deposit addresses it said were retired. It says it absorbed the loss and user balances are unaffected; Tether froze about US$2.2M. Customers need not act, but keep funds off any exchange you don't need.
Nothing required if your CoinDCX balances are unchanged; the exchange says users were credited. As a precaution, don't keep more on any exchange than you need, and never send funds to an old deposit address, only to the one shown in the app.
What’s happening
On 21 October 2026 about 15.99 million USDT and 5,783.81 TRX left TRON addresses linked to CoinDCX, an Indian crypto exchange, and were gathered in one wallet. Investigators flagged it the next day. Co-founder Sumit Gupta first rejected the claim, saying the addresses were old wallets compromised in the July 2025 hack, which cost about US$44 million, and had not been used since. CoinDCX then said an automated process meant to sweep customer deposits out of those retired addresses had failed, so funds that users kept sending there stayed exposed and were drained. It calls the money an operational loss, says it absorbed it, that customer funds are safe and that balances are unaffected. Investigators including ZachXBT dispute that the addresses were dormant, saying they were still being swept into CoinDCX's hot wallet as late as May 2026. Tracing firm AMLBot reported Tether froze about US$2.2 million. Most of the money has not been recovered, and the cause remains disputed. No charges or arrests were found.
- What
- Breach
- Affects
- CoinDCX crypto exchange (India)
- Fixed in
- Nothing to patch
- Since
- 21 Oct 2026
Timeline
- UpdateNothing to patch
CoinDCX confirmed the roughly US$16 million loss from retired wallets, said it absorbed the loss, that customer funds were safe and balances unaffected, and that it would share more as its investigation continues.
- UpdateNothing to patch
Tracing firm AMLBot reported Tether had blacklisted wallets holding about 2.2 million USDT of the stolen funds, as of balances checked on 22 October.
- UpdateNothing to patch
Co-founder Sumit Gupta first called the attribution incorrect and said the addresses were old wallets compromised in July 2025 and unused since. He later admitted the exchange's sweeping process had failed for a period. ZachXBT and others disputed that the addresses were dormant, citing sweeps to CoinDCX's current hot wallet as late as May 2026.
- Made publicNothing to patch
About 15.99 million USDT and 5,783.81 TRX moved from addresses linked to CoinDCX to a single TRON address, with the largest transfer about 15.82 million USDT. Investigator Darcy of Salus flagged it the next morning.
Sources
- India's CoinDCX Confirms $16 Million Loss Days After CEO Called It a 'False Alarm'Decrypt · 26 Oct 2026
- Crypto exchange CoinDCX lying about $16M hack, say blockchain investigatorsProtos · 22 Oct 2026
- CoinDCX Confirms $16M Loss From Failed Sweep Of Retired WalletsOneBullEx (Crypto Briefing repost) · 25 Oct 2026
- Tether Blacklists USDT Wallets Linked to $16 Million in CoinDCX OutflowsCryptoNewsNet (via edgeX) · 23 Oct 2026