Solana News Today: CoinDCX Employee's Laptop Enables $44.2M Crypto Heist

A CoinDCX employee has been identified as the inadvertent link in a $44.2 million cryptocurrency heist that targeted the exchange’s internal liquidity wallet. Rahul Agarwal, a three-year employee with a high-paying position at the firm, was reportedly lured into the scam through a fake part-time job offer. The attackers initially asked him to complete simple online tasks, such as writing reviews, and later persuaded him to use his company-issued laptop for these assignments, granting them access to internal systems [1].

The breach occurred on July 19 and specifically targeted an internal wallet used for liquidity provisioning. Exploiting Agarwal’s access, the hackers drained large amounts of Solana (SOL) and Tether (USDT) via the Jupiter aggregator on the Solana network. The attack was carried out through the infrastructure operated by Neblio Technologies, CoinDCX’s parent company. Agarwal’s office laptop has been seized for further investigation [1].

According to the police, the hackers used Agarwal’s compromised device to authorize unauthorized crypto withdrawals. Agarwal has claimed he was unaware of the malicious intent behind the tasks until he was questioned during the company’s internal probe. However, a senior executive at Neblio Technologies, Hardeep Singh, has alleged that Agarwal was complicit in the attack [1].

The stolen assets have been transferred to external wallets that are now being monitored by authorities. While investigators are tracking these wallets for any movement that might aid in tracing the funds, there is currently no guarantee of recovery. Officials have suggested that foreign entities may have been involved, but no group has claimed responsibility for the hack [1].

In response, CoinDCX has launched a bounty program offering up to 25% of any recovered assets—potentially around $11 million—to white-hat hackers and cybersecurity professionals who assist in the investigation. The exchange has also stated that customer funds remain unaffected and that the loss was absorbed using internal reserves. The stolen amount is estimated to represent around 7.6% of those reserves [1].

The incident highlights the growing vulnerability of crypto exchanges to social engineering attacks. While no direct responsibility is placed on CoinDCX for the breach, the company’s internal systems were exploited due to compromised employee access. The ongoing investigation continues to examine the full extent of the breach and how the attack was executed.

Sources:

[1] CoinDCX Employee Unwittingly Enables $44M Crypto Hack https://cryptodaily.co.uk/2025/08/coindcx-employee-unwittingly-enables-44m-crypto-hack