Days After Bail In Cyber Fraud Case, CoinDCX Co-founder Announces ₹100 Cr Fund Against Online Scams

Co-founder and chief executive of CoinDCX, Sumit Gupta, on Monday announced a Rs 100 crore fund against digital scams.

He said that the trigger behind this move was his and co-founder Neeraj Khandelwal’s arrest by the Thane police on March 21 in relation to a cryptocurrency investment fraud case.

Gupta claimed that the fraud had nothing to do with the co-founders or the company. They were arrested after a scamster impersonated CoinDCX to carry out the crime.

“We were taken into police custody in connection with a fraud complaint. Three days later, on March 24, a Thane court granted us bail, finding that prima facie, no case was made out against us,” Gupta said in a long post on X (formerly Twitter).

He said that the fraud was carried out through a fake website (http://coindcx.pro) by impersonators who had no connection to the company.

“No money moved through CoinDCX. No transaction occurred on our exchange,” Gupta said.

He added that the motive behind the Rs 100 crore initiative was to protect future entrepreneurs from similar ordeals.

“The ecosystem we operate in does not yet have the tools to tell the difference between people building this industry responsibly and those exploiting it,” he said, adding, “If a scammer uses your brand, your name, your face in a fake website and defrauds someone, you can be arrested. This could happen to any founder, any business.”

He announced the launch of the Digital Suraksha Network (DSN), a Rs 100 crore commitment from CoinDCX to build the “cyber safety infrastructure that India’s digital finance ecosystem needs but does not yet have.”

The network will include a platform-agnostic 24x7 WhatsApp helpline to verify links, platforms, and offers before transactions, along with an Open Fraud Intelligence API.

The DSN initiative will fund efforts to build cyber safety infrastructure and improve law enforcement capabilities.

“We have already documented 1,200+ fraudulent websites impersonating CoinDCX. That data sat inside our systems. Not anymore. We are building an open API to share this intelligence in real time and inviting every exchange, fintech, bank, and digital lender to contribute,” Gupta said.

He also urged companies and individuals to join efforts to curb sophisticated and AI-driven fraud networks.

“I am asking every platform, every regulator, and every Indian who participates in digital finance to join us,” Gupta said.