New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at premises linked to cryptocurrency trading platforms CoinDCX and Delta Exchange in Bengaluru on 4 and 5 November over alleged unauthorised cross-border transactions worth several thousand crore rupees.
The agency claims that Delta Exchange routed a substantial volume of its cryptocurrency derivatives and tokenised stock trades through CoinDCX, which executed them on overseas exchanges, allegedly circumventing India’s foreign exchange regulations.
According to an ED officer, the platforms allowed Indian customers to trade in cryptocurrency derivatives, including futures and options, and products linked to shares of foreign companies through overseas crypto exchanges, allegedly in violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
The investigation was initiated after the agency received information alleging large-scale FEMA violations by Neblio Technologies Private Limited, which operates CoinDCX, and Excelium Technologies Private Limited, which operates Delta Exchange, the officer said.
The officer said CoinDCX allegedly routed transactions through accounts opened in the name of a Costa Rica-based group entity on foreign cryptocurrency exchanges. The entity, the ED claims, existed only on paper and was used to facilitate cross-border trading.
“These platforms were offering products such as derivatives trading in crypto tokens, including futures and options, and trading in real-world asset (RWA) tokens. They were also openly advertising trading in tokenised stocks of foreign companies despite not being authorised to do so,” the officer said.
ED, Bengaluru has conducted search at 3 premises linked to M/s Neblio Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (“CoinDCX”) and M/s Excelium Technologies Pvt. Ltd.(“Delta Exchange”) under FEMA 1999 in the case of large scale unauthorized cross-border financial transactions involving crypto token… pic.twitter.com/vW7IbC7JFc
— ED (@dir_ed) November 6, 2026
According to the officer, discreet enquiries and intelligence gathered by the ED revealed that the platforms were using stablecoins such as USDT to facilitate derivatives and tokenised stock trading on overseas cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, KuCoin, Gate.io and Bybit.
“Search operations revealed that both CoinDCX and Delta Exchange offered customers products for spot trading, derivatives trading, including futures and options based on crypto tokens, and trading in tokenised stocks,” the officer said.
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How the transactions allegedly worked
Evidence gathered during the searches revealed how money deposited by Indian customers was allegedly converted into USDT, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, and transferred to overseas cryptocurrency exchanges to execute their trading orders, the officer said.
A customer would first deposit money in Indian rupees on CoinDCX and place an order for spot trading. The platform would then allegedly convert the rupees into USDT and transfer the stablecoins to foreign exchanges, where the customer’s order would be executed.
“Such transfer of funds to Binance, KuCoin and Gate.io is being undertaken by circumventing the framework for cross-border money transfers,” the officer said.
Although the transactions were allegedly routed through accounts held in the name of the Costa Rica-based group entity, the ED claimed that they were actually executed directly from CoinDCX through application programming interfaces (APIs).
“In reality, the transactions were being undertaken directly from CoinDCX through application programming interfaces (APIs),” the officer said. APIs are software interfaces that allow trading platforms to communicate with external exchanges and execute transactions electronically.
The officer said a similar mechanism was allegedly used for futures and options trading. When a customer deposited rupees and placed an order to open a position in cryptocurrency futures or options, CoinDCX would allegedly open a corresponding position of the same size on an overseas exchange through an account held in the name of its Costa Rica-based group entity.
The ED alleged that this arrangement enabled CoinDCX to execute customers’ derivatives trades on overseas platforms while circumventing the regulatory framework governing cross-border financial transactions.
Further searches revealed that CoinDCX was allegedly offering trading in tokenised stocks of foreign companies, including Apple, Google and Tesla.
According to the officer, these were actually derivatives trades linked to foreign stocks, executed through Hyperliquid, an overseas decentralised cryptocurrency trading platform.
The ED also alleged that CoinDCX maintained trading accounts on overseas cryptocurrency exchanges and held crypto assets in violation of FEMA provisions. The agency claimed that the platform paid hundreds of crores of rupees in transaction fees to foreign exchanges using stablecoins such as USDT, allegedly circumventing the prescribed framework for cross-border payments.
Delta Exchange trades allegedly routed through CoinDCX
The ED found that Delta Exchange India, operated by Excelium Technologies Private Limited, offered spot trading, cryptocurrency futures and options, and trading in tokenised stocks of foreign companies.
Searches at two premises linked to Delta Exchange revealed that a substantial volume of its derivatives and tokenised stock trades was allegedly routed through CoinDCX, which executed them on overseas exchanges.
The volume of these cross-border transactions ran into several thousand crore rupees, the agency claimed.
The ED further alleged that Delta Exchange had transferred hundreds of crores of rupees to associated entities overseas.
ThePrint has reached out to both CoinDCX and Delta Exchange India over email for their responses to the ED’s allegations. The report will be updated as and when the responses arrive.
(Edited by Chingkheinganbi Mayengbam)
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