India’s leading cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX is expanding internationally through the acquisition of BitOasis, a digital asset platform in the Middle East and North Africa, the companies said Wednesday.
The Bengaluru-based startup said the BitOasis team will join CoinDCX, with the original management team continuing to manage the platform, which offers trading in over 60 tokens. BitOasis will also retain its branding, CoinDCX told TechCrunch.
Dubai-based BitOasis had raised more than $40 million in funding over its eight-year existence. The two companies did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, but a CoinDCX spokesperson told TechCrunch that BitOasis investors would receive equity in CoinDCX, adding that the deal was profitable for BitOasis backers.
The expansion occurs amid A prolonged period of regulatory hostility towards cryptocurrencies In India, with the local central bank. Keeping the pressure on other lenders to avoid doing business with cryptocurrency companies. India remains one of the least friendly jurisdictions for cryptocurrency traders, Impose a 30% tax on digital asset profits.
The regulatory environment, coupled with a slowdown in the overall market, has forced India’s top cryptocurrency companies to find other ways to sustain their growth. CoinDCX Launched a decentralized exchange in 2022 and has been working aggressively to expand it.
CoinSwitch parent company Kuber, the Indian company Another unicorn cryptocurrency exchangehas diversified its offering to include investments in stocks and mutual funds over the past year. CoinDCX, backed by Steadview, Pantera, B Capital and Coinbase, was valued at $2.1 billion in a funding round in 2022.
Local stock markets benefited from India Binance and more than half of other international cryptocurrency exchanges banned This year, for failing to comply with local anti-money laundering regulations, several of these exchanges, including Binance, are already in contact with the Indian authority and are working to comply with the regulations. They are expected to resume operations in India in the coming weeks.
CoinDCX, which processes trading volumes exceeding $800 million every quarter, aims to become the “go-to trading platform for cryptocurrencies worldwide,” CoinDCX co-founder and CEO Sumit Gupta said in a statement. “Our expansion strategy begins with the MENA region, leveraging its mature market and the population’s high interest in cryptocurrency investment.”
BitOasis said it has processed $6 billion in trading volume since its founding in 2016.