Indian cricketer faces massive backlash after endorsing crypto originally appeared on TheStreet .
Gautam Gambhir, India's former cricketer and the current coach of the Indian cricket team, recently took aim at those calling crypto a "fad."
"Guess what? 2 Crore+ Indians disagree," he wrote on X on Aug. 6.
The figure of 20 million (2 crore) refers to the user base the Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX seems to be boasting of, with Gambhir being a brand ambassador.
While the celebrity player tagged CoinDCX in his post, the community notes underlined that he has repeatedly promoted the brand in the past without any mandated disclosures.
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CoinDCX is one of the largest crypto exchanges in India, and the country itself boasts of one of the largest numbers of crypto users in the world.
As per the on-chain analytics platform Chainalysis, India led the 2024 global crypto adoption index. However, there is still ambiguity around the regulatory status of crypto assets in the country despite a strict taxation regime.
Gambhir faces backlash
Gambhir is also facing backlash over his crypto endorsement for CoinDCX, with users accusing him of flouting ad disclosure norms.
"Crypto is fraud, u never no when ur wallet become empty," one user warned, while another wrote, "Promoting betting and crypto currency — this is against public interest."
A Community Note on X flagged Gambhir's post, stating, "OP appears to be part of a paid CoinDCX campaign but hasn't used '#Ad' or similar disclosure." It added that per ASCI Guidelines and the Consumer Protection Act of India, all paid content must be clearly labeled to avoid misleading consumers.
CoinDCX attempts to gain confidence
It was on July 19 that the on-chain sleuth ZachXBT revealed CoinDCX getting drained of nearly $44.2 million in a heist — exactly a year after another Indian crypto exchange WazirX got hacked for $234 million.
CoinDCX co-founder and CEO Sumit Gupta later acknowledged the attack and claimed that the exploit didn't impact any customer funds. The loss will be absorbed from CoinDCX's own treasury reserves, he had said.
The exchange launched a recovery bounty program on July 25, promising up to 25% of any recovered funds to parties who can help retrieve the stolen crypto assets. A police investigation is going on.
CoinDCX's latest branding move is intended as a confidence-building measure after the drastic incident.
Indian cricketer faces massive backlash after endorsing crypto first appeared on TheStreet on Aug 6, 2025
This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Aug 6, 2025, where it first appeared.
