CoinDCX Slips Into Loss In FY22 As Advertising Expenses Surge Multifold To INR 323.5 Cr

Crypto exchange CoinDCX’s India entity, Neblio Technologies, slipped into the red in the financial year 2021-22 (FY22) due to a sharp surge in its advertising expenses. The crypto unicorn reported a net loss of INR 41.34 Cr in FY22 as against a net profit of INR 4.36 Cr in FY21.

CoinDCX’s operating revenue, which it earns from sale of its services, surged more than 12.5X to INR 588.5 Cr in FY22 from INR 47.1 Cr in FY21. Total income stood at INR 588.94 Cr in FY22 as compared to INR 47.15 Cr in FY21.

Meanwhile, total expenses surged 15.5X to INR 630 Cr during the year from INR 40.7 Cr in FY21 on the back of the surge in advertising expenses. The crypto platform’s advertising expenses grew to INR 323.5 Cr in FY22 from INR 1.8 Cr in FY21.

Employee benefit expense rose 4.4X to INR 51.83 Cr from INR 11.69 Cr in FY21.

CoinDCX, founded by Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal in 2018, competes with the likes of WazirX, CoinSwitch Kuber, Unocoin, among others. It operates crypto investment app CoinDCX Go, professional crypto trading platform CoinDCX Pro, and investor education platform DCX Learn. It has raised a total funding of $247 Mn till date and entered the unicorn club in 2021.

Amid a strong growth in the popularity of cryptocurrencies in 2021, many Indian crypto exchanges went big on marketing and advertising to grow their user base. CoinDCX too joined the party and appointed actor Ayushmann Khurrana as its brand ambassador in October 2021.

Initially, the exchange onboarded actor Amitabh Bachchan as its face. However, the veteran actor later said he was pausing the endorsement deal with CoinDCX until there was clarity on the legality of cryptocurrencies in India.

CoinDCX also launched many other marketing campaigns in that year. However, the ongoing crypto winter and the staunch opposition of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to private cryptocurrencies hit the growth momentum of crypto exchanges in the country.

Besides, many popular crypto exchanges, including CoinDCX and CoinSwitch Kuber, also came under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), adding to the pressure.

Consequently, CoinDCX recently began cutting its workforce as part of a restructuring drive. The layoffs affected the sales and marketing teams.

Troubled crypto exchange WazirX also laid off as much as 40% of its workforce, or around 50-70 employees, in October 2022.