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Journalism of Courage
While no financial system is immune to misuse, a Ministry of Home Affairs report that Indian crypto platforms are being exploited by cyber criminals has thrown into focus the inherent pseudonymity of blockchain transactions and the vulnerability of a fledgling virtual assets economy that still goes unregulated in India.
Moreover, the ownership structure of several top Indian crypto platforms, functioning in what a senior industry hand called a “trust and oversight vacuum”, are helmed by foreign holding companies.
While many of them play down the trend as a common practice with fintech startups for the “ease of raising capital” through a holding company located in a convenient jurisdiction, some conceded it was due to “other considerations”.
“There is the tax angle, particularly during an acquisition. But one cannot ignore the regulatory uncertainty. The ban in 2018 left the platforms without even bank accounts in India. In such a scenario, a layered operation is an existential requirement,” said the CTO of an Indian crypto exchange, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“But one must differentiate between offshore platforms from Seychelles or Cayman (Islands) and those who operate from legitimate jurisdictions such as Singapore or the US,” he said.
The reluctance of a few crypto exchanges to pay 18% GST, in lieu of intermediary services provided for trading, did not help build trust between the industry and the government, according to an official with the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), which searched the premises of several crypto platforms in 2022.
The Finance Ministry reported GST evasion of Rs 824.14 crore by 17 crypto exchanges and the recovery of Rs 122.29 crore, including interest and penalties, by December 2024. The foreign crypto platforms providing services to Indians also came under the GST regime this July.
According to the records of the Ministry’s Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), these are the top 12 Indian crypto exchanges by volume of crime proceeds transferred:
1. CoinDCX
Legal name: Neblio Technologies Private Limited, which is an affiliate of Primestack Pte Ltd, Singapore.
Incorporation: Mumbai in 2018.
Founders: Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal
Revenue: Rs 572 crore in 2024-25.
Estimated market share in India: Among top 5
This July, Neblio Technologies reported that hackers had siphoned off cryptocurrency worth Rs 384 crore from its digital wallet. A Neblio employee was arrested on suspicion that his company laptop was the point of access used by the hackers. The Cyber Crime Wing of the Karnataka Police is leading the probe. CoinDCX has launched a bounty programme offering up to 25% of successfully recovered assets.
“Globally reputed forensic specialists – Sygnia and zeroShadow – are conducting comprehensive system and on-chain analysis. We are also working closely with peer security communities such as Seal911, Bybit’s security division, Solana Foundation, Superteam India, and key protocol partners including Wormhole and deBridge to support containment and remediation,” a Neblio Technologies spokesperson said.
In December 2024, the Ministry of Finance told Lok Sabha that Rs 22.61 crore was recovered from CoinDCX/Neblio in GST dues, interests and penalties. The company said it paid approximately Rs 244 crore in GST until October 2025.
2. WazirX
Legal name: Zanmai Labs Pvt Ltd – 99% owned by Zettai Pte Ltd, Singapore.
Incorporation: Mumbai in 2017.
Founders: Nischal Shetty, Siddharth Menon and Sameer Mhatre.
Revenue: Rs 50 crore in 2023-24.
Estimated market share in India: Among top 5
Zanmai was panned for its non-responsiveness, freezing user funds without warning, and proposing a restructure to “socialize” losses across all users after hackers breached the WazirX platform in July 2024 and stole $235 million in crypto.
This September, the Madras High Court ruled that Zanmai Labs could not force all users to share the losses, while the Bombay High Court asked the company to provide bank guarantees of Rs 45.38 crore to CoinSwitch, a rival that had assets on the WazirX platform.
Zanmai Lab was on the radar of the Enforcement Directorate which issued a notice to the company in 2021 for alleged FEMA contravention in crypto transactions worth Rs 2,790 crore.
A year later, the ED froze Zanmai Labs’ bank assets worth Rs 64.67 crore for inadequate KYC controls and not cooperating fully with the agency’s probe into money laundering through Chinese-owned illegal instant loan apps.
The company attributed the lapses to the absence of standard KYC requirements in the pre-2023 era, pointing out that WazirX or Zanmai was not named as an accused in any ED chargesheet.
In 2021, Zanmai Lab also flagged for GST evasion of Rs 40.5 crore. Subsequently, the company paid up Rs 49.18 crore, including interest and penalty.
3. Giottus
Legal name: Giottus Technologies Private Limited.
Incorporation: Chennai in 2017.
Founders: Vikram Subburaj and Arjun Vijay.
Revenue: Rs 13 crore in 2024-25.
Estimated market share in India: Among top 10
In 2022, Giottus Technologies was among the exchanges investigated by the DGGI for evading GST and Rs 5.31 crore was recovered from the company by 2024.
“For the year 2024-25, we have made a GST payment of around INR 9 crore. Our books are transparent and fully auditable. Regular internal and statutory audits ensure compliance with all FIU, Income-Tax, and GST norms,” said Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Giottus crypto platform.
In October 2023, a Bengaluru consumer court ruled that Giottus was not guilty of any service deficiency after a cybercrime victim who lost cryptocurrency worth USDT 12,484 while trading through the Giottus app sued the company.
This March, Giottus Technologies helped develop the Handbook for Investigations into Virtual Digital Assets for the Tamil Nadu police force.
4. ZebPay
Legal name: Awlencan Innovations India Limited – 99.98% owned by Ohana Dao Pte. Ltd, Singapore.
Incorporation: Hyderabad in 2018.
Founders: Sandeep Goenka, Mahin Gupta, and Saurabh Agrawal. CEO Rahul Pagidipati acquired the majority ownership in 2020.
Revenue: Rs 52 crore in 2023-24.
Estimated market share in India: Among top 10
Until September 2018, ZebPay was run by Ahmedabad-based Zeb IT Service Pvt Ltd, which filed for voluntary liquidation after it was found guilty of noncompliance of various provisions of Companies Act. The operations briefly moved to Malta under Awlencan Innovations Malta Limited until it was deactivated in September 2019.
Awlencan Innovations was among the exchanges investigated by the DGGI for evading GST and paid Rs 10.63 crore in GST dues, interests and penalties by 2024.
Consumers of Awlencan Innovations have raised issues such as money deducted from customer accounts not reflecting in their ZebPay wallets, funds not being credited after transfers, no mechanism for grievance redressal etc. Consumer complaint portal Voxya shows a 60% consumer satisfaction score for ZebPay.
ZebPay said its highest priority is to ensure platform integrity, user security, and the highest standards of transparency and compliance. “We operate with stringent KYC, AML, and cybersecurity protocols and maintain robust monitoring systems to prevent and detect suspicious activity,” it said in a statement.
5. Mudrex
Legal name: RPFAS Technologies Pvt Ltd – 99.99% owned by Mudrex Inc, Delaware.
Incorporation: Bengaluru in 2018.
Founders: Edul Mehernosh Patel and Alankar Saxena
Revenue: Rs 398 crore in 2023-24.
Estimated market share in India: Among top 5
In August 2024, RPFAS Technologies obtained an order from the Delhi High Court, directing the government to take down fraudulent websites found to be misusing the Mudrex trademark to deceive and defraud the public.
This January, Mudrex’s decision to suspend crypto withdrawal for two weeks pending the platform’s compliance framework upgrade with Artificial Intelligence (AI) invited criticism from a section of its users.
The company said the move was necessitated by “a system migration rather than a security upgrade” and the temporary pause was only for withdrawals in crypto and not INR.
6. CoinSwitch X
Legal name: Nextgendev Solutions Pvt ltd – 99.99% owned by Bitkuber Investments Pvt Ltd, which is 100% owned by Chain Lab, Singapore.
Incorporation: Bengaluru in 2021.
Founders: Vimal Sagar Tiwari, Ashish Singhal, Govind Soni
Revenue: Rs 74 crore in 2023-24.
Estimated market share in India: Among top 5
CoinSwitch clarified “categorically” that no such “transfers” took place through the platform, which “operates within a fully ringfenced and compliant environment designed to prevent any misuse”.
Since 2022, Bitkuber Investments has been among the exchanges investigated by the DGGI for evading GST and Rs 19.38 crore was recovered from the company by 2024.
7. Carret
Legal name: Carretx Technologies Private Limited.
Incorporation: Bengaluru in 2021.
Founders: Neha Kumari and Shuja Hussain
Revenue: Rs 1 crore in 2023-24
Estimated market share in India: Among top 15
Carret did not respond to requests for comment.
8. Inocyx
Legal name: Inocyx Technologies Private Limited.
Incorporation: Chennai in 2022.
Founders: V Mohan Babu, Yusuf Rahman, V Sivachandran
Revenue: Not reported
Estimated market share in India: Among top 15
Inocyx did not respond to requests for comment.
9. Eclipton
Legal name: Eclipton Technologies Private Limited – operated with platform support from Ecliptonpay OÜ, Estonia.
Incorporation: Coimbatore in 2021.
Founder: Mahesh Kumar
Revenue: Rs 2 crore in 2022-23
Estimated market share in India: Among top 15
Eclipton did not respond to requests for comment.
10. Onramp
Legal name: Buyhatke Internet Pvt Ltd.
Incorporation: Bengaluru in 2015.
Founder: Gaurav Dahake
Revenue: Rs 1 crore in 2023-24
Estimated market share in India: Among top 15
Many Onramp users have flagged that the platform was founded by the BitBNS founder Gaurav Dahake and complained of similar issues faced on both platforms, such as funds remaining stuck for weeks with no resolution due to poor customer support.
Dahake runs BitBNS through BitBNS Internet Pvt Ltd, a Bengaluru company set up in 2020 and owned 99.99% by Block Innovations Pte Ltd, Singapore. It reported a revenue of Rs 69 lakhs in 2023-24.
Since October 2024, at least 24 users of BitBNS platform have complained that they were unable to withdraw funds from the exchange for several months. This January, the Delhi High Court heard their petitions seeking a regulatory mechanism for cryptocurrency and asked the SEBI and the RBI to weigh in.
BitBNS blamed too many judicial proceedings involving third-party issues that led to freezing of a number of bank accounts of the company while the cases were heard.
11. CoinDhan
Legal name: Wollfish Labs Private Limited.
Incorporation: Delhi in 2021.
Founders: Sagar Goyal and Rohit Jindal.
Revenue: Rs 5 crore in 2023-24.
Estimated market share in India: Among top 15
CoinDhan did not respond to requests for comment.
12. Pi42
Legal name: Lightningnodes Technologies Pvt Ltd – 97.5% owned by TN42 Technologies Pte Ltd, Singapore.
Incorporation: Ahmedabad in 2023.
Founders: Nischal Shetty, Avinash Shekhar
Revenue: Rs 1 crore in 2023-24
Estimated market share in India: Among top 15
In the backdrop of the WazirX July 2024 hack, Pi42 promoted its platform as a safer alternative, explaining that instead of holding the user’s crypto assets, it deals in Indian rupees.
Lightningnodes Technologies director Avinash Shekhar emphasised that Pi42 and WazirX are two separate companies, and Pi42’s exclusive focus on futures trading using INR margins offered more security.
But many victims of the WazirX hack questioned the legitimacy of WazirX co-founder Nischal Shetty floating a new venture, Pi42, even before the legal issues with WazirX were resolved.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Shetty pointed out that Lightningnodes Technologies was set up in 2023 and Pi42 came into existence before the WazirX hack. “Pi42 was anyway led by Avinash with me in a supporting role,” he clarified, adding that 85% of the funds lost by WazirX users in 2024 have been paid back.
