From Decrypt · By Decrypt Agent
In brief
India's Enforcement Directorate searched three premises linked to crypto exchanges CoinDCX and Delta Exchange in Bengaluru over alleged foreign exchange violations.
The agency alleges CoinDCX converted users' rupees into USDT and executed their trades on Binance, KuCoin, Bybit and Gate.io via a Costa Rican "paper entity."
It said the cross-border transactions ran to thousands of crores of rupees, and that tokenized stock trades were routed to the Hyperliquid exchange.
India's Enforcement Directorate has searched three premises in Bengaluru linked to crypto exchanges CoinDCX and Delta Exchange, alleging the platforms carried out unauthorized cross-border transactions worth hundreds of millions of dollars through crypto derivatives and tokenized assets.
The searches were carried out on November 4 and 5 under India's Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), the agency, India's main financial crimes investigator, said in a statement dated November 6, which it shared on X on Thursday.
ईडी, बेंगलुरु ने क्रिप्टो टोकन डेरिवेटिव एवं वास्तविक विश्व परिसंपत्ति (आरडब्ल्यूए) टोकन से जुड़े बड़े पैमाने पर अनधिकृत सीमा-पार वित्तीय लेन-देन के मामले में फेमा, 1999 के अंतर्गत मेसर्स नेब्लियो टेक्नोलॉजीज प्राइवेट लिमिटेड (“कॉइनडीसीएक्स”) तथा मेसर्स एक्सेलियम टेक्नोलॉजीज… pic.twitter.com/vXwMU5uCTj
— ED (@dir_ed) November 12, 2026
The investigation targets Neblio Technologies, which operates CoinDCX, and Excelium Technologies, which runs Delta Exchange. Both platforms offered futures and options on crypto tokens and openly advertised trading in tokenized shares of foreign companies, despite not being authorized to do so, according to the agency.
How the trades allegedly worked
The Enforcement Directorate alleged that CoinDCX used stablecoins such as USDT to carry out trades for its users on foreign crypto exchanges, including Binance, KuCoin, Bybit and Gate.io, bypassing India's framework for sending money abroad.
When users deposited rupees and placed spot or derivatives orders, CoinDCX converted the funds into USDT and opened matching positions on the foreign exchanges, the agency said. The trades ran through accounts held in the name of a Costa Rica-based group entity, which it described as a shell entity, and were carried out directly from CoinDCX through APIs.
Trades in tokenized shares of companies such as Apple, Google and Tesla were in fact derivatives positions opened on decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, according to the agency.
PredictCryptoBTC Highs in November
80,00042%YesNo82,50012%YesNo85,0008%YesNo87,5005%YesNo90,0003%YesNo+6 more outcomes+5 more outcomesNEW$205.05 volumeCloses: Dec 1, 2026, 04:59 UTCCloses: Dec 1, 2026, 04:59 UTCThe Enforcement Directorate alleged that the cross-border transactions in each of these areas ran to hundreds of millions of dollars. It also said CoinDCX holds crypto assets in enterprise accounts on foreign exchanges, and has paid tens of millions of dollars in fees to those platforms in USDT, in breach of FEMA.