- CoinDCX has offered an $11 million bounty to help recover stolen funds
- The bounty will go to people who’ll provide “actionable first intelligence”
- CoinDCX lost $44 million to hackers on July 18
Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX has announced an $11 million bounty, not to the hacker, but to anyone who’ll provide “actionable first-intellegence” to help recover stolen funds. CoinDCX said that it’ll offer “up to 25% of any recovered funds” to individuals who’ll trace, retrieve, and, “more importantly, assist in the identification and conviction” of those involved in the hack. The exchange disclosed that it has redesigned part of its infrastructure and tightened its security to prevent future exploits.
Protecting “Our Collective Trust”
According to CoinDCX, the bounty program isn’t meant “to chase what was lost” but is intended to protect “our collective trust.” It added that the bounty isn’t a cry for help but a “stand for the future.”
Announcing the @CoinDCX Recovery Bounty Program: Up to 25% of any recovered funds will be awarded to individuals or teams who can help trace and retrieve the stolen crypto.
Just to give more context:
-> We want to be upfront. The exposure was from our own reserves, and we have… https://t.co/GHHlxf3PxB— Sumit Gupta (CoinDCX) (@smtgpt) July 21, 2025
The exchange said that the bounty program is meant to bring the crypto community together to set a new standard for “response and recovery.” It noted that it’ll transparently review all credible leads, adding that it’ll publish updates as new traces and patterns emerge.
In a previous post, CoinDCX CEO Sumit Gupta revealed that the hack didn’t impact customer funds because they were drained from an internal wallet used for “liquidity provisioning” with a partner exchange. Gupta also disclosed that the loss would be covered by the exchange’s corporate treasury.
A Bounty With a Twist
CoinDCX’s bounty program isn’t the first in the market but has an unpopular twist. Instead of reaching out to the hacker and pleading with them to return the funds for a bounty, the exchange wants the hacker’s identity revealed.
In the recent past, hacked crypto platforms like GMX have been using bounties to entice threat actors to return funds. Although this approach has been successful, it’s not a guarantee that hackers would return funds even when their identities are revealed.
With CoinDCX baying for the hackers identity, it’s to be seen whether the attacker will voluntarily return the loot.
