Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX to announce bounty program after $44M hack

Another crypto exchange has suffered a multimillion-dollar hack, becoming a fresh opportunity for bounty hunters.

Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX said it aims to launch its "recovery bounty program" soon after falling victim to a $44 million hack this past weekend.

The company confirmed that criminals had hacked into one of its accounts on a "partner exchange," stealing tens of millions worth of crypto assets. The compromised account was used for operational liquidity. The exchange said it has managed to track stolen funds that were routed through multiple hops before landing in two solana (SOL) and ethereum (ETH) wallets.

CoinDCX claims that the criminals have stolen only the assets from the company's treasury reserves, while all customer wallets are secure. The platform also says it remains fully operational.

In the meantime, the team is working with "global security experts and authorities" to recover funds and warns of impersonators that usually appear after such incidents, trying to trick customers into giving away their funds.

Today, the company has scheduled a live session on X and YouTube with its leadership to "share what exactly happened in detail."

In his earlier post on X, Sumit Gupta, co-founder of CoinDCX, said that the account was compromised due to "a sophisticated server breach."

"I understand incidents like this can be unsettling – even when customer assets are unaffected. That's why I am sharing this incident with you with full transparency," Gupta said.

However, the company was criticized for disclosing the incident only when it had already become public.

"Why is a CoinDCX team member telling people to engage with this post and thank you for the 'transparency?’ Your team waited 17 hours to disclose (not until after it was alerted publicly)," popular blockchain sleuth ZachXBT said. The exchange has not responded.