As a result of CoinDCX’s meteoric rise to unicorn status earlier this summer, cryptocurrency exchange CoinSwitch Kuber is thought to be the next in line, with a valuation that is over twice that of its predecessor.
Despite the fact that India’s recent cryptocurrency history has been chaotic, the local sector is thought to be on the verge of producing another cryptocurrency unicorn.
According to an unconfirmed report published today, sources allegedly familiar with the matter have claimed that cryptocurrency exchange CoinSwitch Kuber is in the “advanced stages of talks” for a new financing round that would value the platform at $2 billion. The platform is currently valued at $1 billion.
That’s nearly twice the value of the country’s first crypto unicorn, rival crypto exchange CoinDCX, which raised $90 million in a Series C investment round this summer at a valuation of $1.1 billion, making it the country’s second-highest valued unicorn.
In addition to B Capital Group, Block.one, Coinbase Ventures, Polychain, and Jump Capital participated in the investment round for CoinDCX. CoinSwitch Kuber is rumored to have been working closely with Coinbase and Andreessen Horowitz on various projects (A16z).
The latter’s participation would be the venture capital firm’s first investment in an Indian startup.
CoinSwitch Kuber’s rapid growth to more than 7 million monthly active users in August, up from about 4 million in April, is expected to result in an additional $100 million in revenue for the company, if the acquisition is completed as planned.
Contrary to popular belief, the rise of trading platforms like CoinSwitch Kuber and CoinDCX, which have around 3.5 million users, indicates that retail investors are becoming more enthusiastic about the technology.
By comparison, between mid-2020 and June this year, investments in the Indian cryptocurrency sector increased by 600 percent.
With three unicorns added every month in 2021 in the broader startup industry, India is on its way to nearly doubling the total number of unicorns in the country, which stood at 51 as of last month.
Meanwhile, innovations from the crypto space are finding their way into the traditional financial sphere, with the Reserve Bank of India recently revealing that it is weighing the pros and cons of using a decentralized ledger for its proposed central bank digital currency, which is currently under development (CBDC).
By the end of this year, it is expected that trials for the digital rupee will have begun.
