Bengaluru, Nov. 23 -- When CoinDCX launched in 2018, India's crypto scene was barely more than a whisper in the larger tech conversation. Bitcoin had made a big splash a year earlier with its dramatic surge, and a handful of early adopters were tinkering with wallets that few understood.

Exchanges were scarce, liquidity was poor, and the language of blockchain still drew blank stares from bankers and regulators alike. Investors dismissed it as a fad and founders operated in the shadows, unsure whether what they were building would even be legal a month later.

A Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) circular in 2018 banning banks from working with crypto companies arrived just as the sector was beginning to find its feet, forcing entrepreneurs t...