India's CoinSwitch crypto exchange is expanding its services portfolio to now focus on high networth individuals (HNIs) and institutional investors. In an announcement shared on Thursday, September 5 – the Mumbai-headquartered exchange said with this service, it aims to provide HNIs with personalised investment advisory and detailed risk management solutions among other inputs. In India, crypto-related activities like investing, trading, and holding are allowed and they fall under the government's tax regime.
In conversation with Gadgets360, CoinSwitch's Business Head, Balaji Srihari said that the recent approval of crypto exchange traded funds (ETFs) in the US has sparked institutional interest in crypto investments.
As per Statista, BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF alone has seen inflows of around $15 billion (roughly Rs. 1,30,178 crore) since being launched in January 2024. ETFs allow investors to engage with crypto using traditional stock market platforms, eliminating the need to register with crypto-specific exchanges and platforms.
“We are already seeing a growing demand for sophisticated investment solutions among HNIs and institutions. This new service is designed to meet that demand, providing users with the tools they need,” Srihari told Gadgets360.
A dedicated section for this service has been added to the main CoinSwitch website for now. On this tab, interested investors will have to fill in personal details and select account type – upon which company-assigned executives will get in touch with them.
CoinSwitch claimed that its team of experts will assist institutional investors with tailored investment strategies, dedicated account management, professional tax filing, and exclusive market access.
Additionally, the exchange said, it will be offering ‘institutional grade security' to the HNIs. Elaborating on this, Srihari noted, “We use top-tier asset storage solutions, advanced security protocols, and robust risk management practices to ensure this. Our custody providers insure assets in storage and in transfer. They are also SOC 2 Type II certified and regularly pen-tested by globally renowned cyber security groups.”
The wallets holding CoinSwitch balances, as per its business chief, offers multi-party computation (MPC) capability that eliminates a single point of compromise throughout the key lifecycle.
In India, discussions around the safety of crypto assets grew louder after a hack on WazirX led to the theft of $230 million (roughly Rs. 1,900 crore) on July 18. The incident that left WazirX users in distress and caused financial losses, raised questions on the kind of security arrangement that crypto exchanges are looking at in the midst of rising crypto hacks.
CoinSwitch declined to reveal the identities of its "custody partners" responsible for safeguarding user assets. Additionally, the exchange did not disclose what percentage of user funds are stored in a single wallet.
However, Srihari did state that “majority of digital assets are stored in secure cold wallets. At any point, we store only a small percentage of our assets on hot wallets and third-party exchanges. This allows us to work with multiple partners and minimise systemic risks.”
Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article.
