Indian regulators approve Coinbase's acquisition of stake in CoinDCX

YM Lee

Summary

Coinbase said it received approval from Indian regulatory authorities to acquire a minority stake in the virtual asset exchange CoinDCX.
The approval is expected to speed up Coinbase's re-entry into the Indian market.
The industry interprets the market potential of India and Coinbase's stake investment as part of a long-term business expansion strategy.

The United States' largest virtual asset exchange Coinbase has received approval from local regulators to acquire a stake in Indian virtual asset exchange CoinDCX. This approval is expected to accelerate Coinbase's move to re-enter the Indian market.

On the 17th (local time), Cointelegraph reported that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said it approved Coinbase Global's acquisition of a minority stake in DCX Global Limited, which operates CoinDCX. The Competition Commission of India is the regulatory body that oversees fair competition in the market.

Paul Grewal, Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer (CLO), confirmed the matter the next day via X, saying the stake acquisition is "an opportunity to further strengthen a long-term partnership with one of the most steadfast and trusted digital asset platforms in India."

However, neither the CCI notice nor Grewal's post specified the exact stake percentage Coinbase acquired. Coinbase has also not provided additional details regarding the size of the stake.

The approval comes after Coinbase announced in October that it planned to invest in CoinDCX. At the time, Coinbase said that if the deal were completed, CoinDCX's post-transaction enterprise value would be about $2.4 billion. It also disclosed that CoinDCX's annual revenue as of July was about $141 million. Coinbase denied earlier reports that it would fully acquire CoinDCX for $1 billion.

Separately from the stake acquisition, Coinbase is also pursuing a return to the Indian market. According to reports last week, Coinbase is considering reintroducing fiat on-ramp services for Indian users starting in 2026. This would be an attempt to re-enter about two years after suspending services in India in September 2023.

India, with a population of over 1.4 billion, is the world's largest market by population. Industry sources estimate that more than 100 million people in India use virtual assets. Given the market's large potential, Coinbase's stake investment and regulatory approval are also interpreted as part of a long-term strategy to expand its business in India.