BitGo is now providing its custody services to India's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, CoinDCX.
Announced Thursday, BitGo began storing cryptocurrencies held by CoinDCX last week with the aim of ensuring the assets are kept "safe and secure." The custodial services extend to deposits at the exchange's lending arm, DCXLend.
Custodied funds are protected in the event of an exchange hack or theft by BitGo's $100 million insurance coverage, the companies said. The policy is provided by a syndicate of insurers within the centuries-old insurance marketplace Lloyd's of London.
CoinDCX will utilize the custodian's omnibus, or mixed, and segregated hot and cold wallets with two-factor authentication across all accounts.
"CoinDCX has taken yet another stride in consolidating our position as a trusted and secure brand. With the custodial services of BitGo, we want to make cryptocurrency utilization in India, safe and secure,” Sumit Gupta, CEO and co-founder of CoinDCX, said in the announcement.
According to BitGo CEO Mike Belshe on stage at CoinDesk Invest: N.Y. last year, the custodian processed at the time more than 20 percent of bitcoin transactions, meaning a sizable share of all on-chain transaction pass through its services.
Alongside a recent Supreme Court order overturning the Indian central bank's ban on banking services for crypto firms, CoinDCX said it saw an increase in trading volumes by up to 47% in the first quarter of 2020, while user signups were up 10-fold.
Weeks after the ban lifted, CoinDCX raised $3 million in a Series A round that was joined by investment firms Bain Capital and Polychain Capital, as well as BitMEX-owner HDR Global Trading.
With the local crypto industry now open again, investors and major exchanges have been eyeing moves into India. Billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper said India was now entering a crypto "renaissance" and that he was seeking suitable investments in the nation.
And trading platforms such as Binance and Kraken have both indicated they would expand into the potentially huge market. Binance and its local exchange subsidiary WazirX launched a $50 million blockchain fund to boost local startups less than two weeks after the Supreme Court decision.
“With the recent uptick in trading volumes on Indian exchanges, the need of the hour is for professionalization in the form of fund security in the crypto market,” said Pete Najarian, chief revenue officer, BitGo. “As the custodian of CoinDCX, BitGo will provide their users with added value and assurance when investing in cryptocurrencies.”
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