CoinDCX confirms $16 million loss from retired wallets days after CEO called breach reports a ‘false alarm’

JUST IN: Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX confirms a $16 million loss from retired wallets, days after its CEO dismissed early breach reports as a 'false alarm'.

Sixteen million dollars, gone from wallets that were supposed to be retired.

CoinDCX, one of India's biggest crypto exchanges, has now confirmed the loss. And the timing is the painful part. Just days ago, the company's CEO dismissed early reports of a breach as a false alarm. That's the kind of sentence that ages like milk.

Retired wallets are the ones you've moved on from, drained, parked, supposedly out of play. Sixteen million walking out of them suggests the keys weren't as retired as the wallets were. And for an exchange in India's heavily watched crypto scene, the money might not even be the biggest cost here.

Because once a CEO says false alarm and the alarm turns out to be real, every future reassurance from that desk trades at a discount. That's the loss that doesn't show up on the balance sheet.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.