Top crypto exchange Coinbase has announced it will be suspending its services in India. This comes after several months of the exchange trying to establish itself in the country.
The suspension takes effect from 25 September, and affects some Indian users who’re violating the rules of the exchange. “We will be disabling access for the retail accounts that no longer meet our updated standards…” Coinbase wrote in an email.
Going forward, new users are also not allowed to sign up in India, but they can download the Coinbase wallet. Consequently, the exchange has urged users in the country to withdraw all their funds before the deadline.
Coinbase is one of the leading crypto exchanges in the world, and the biggest in the United States. The exchange has played a key role in establishing the crypto industry in India through its support for CoinSwitch, Kuber, and CoinDCX, all of which are top crypto exchanges in the country.
However, it could not establish itself as an entity at this time. According to the email announcement, the decision to end the services is due to regulatory challenges the exchange is facing in the country.
Coinbase Challenges in India
Regulators in India, specifically the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has mounted “informal pressure” on the exchange, CEO Brian Armstrong stated. As a result of the challenges, top executives of the company have left, including Market Expansion director Durgesh Kaushik.
The failure began after NPCI, a payment organization monitoring UPI, failed to acknowledge Coinbase India. UPI (Unified Payments Interface) was integrated with Coinbase in 2022 when Coinbase attempted to reintroduce itself in the country.
The refusal of NPCI to acknowledge the exchange dealt a blow that Coinbase could not recover from, hence the withdrawal of services. However, crypto remains legal in the country, as it recently introduced crypto taxation.
Coinbase’s challenges aren’t restricted to India though. Even in the U.S where the exchange is based, the securities and exchange commission (SEC) has dragged it to court on allegations of trading in some crypto assets it referred to as “unregistered securities”. The exchange has been in court since June on the allegations with no end in sight.
Coinbase Still Making Progress
In spite of the challenges Coinbase is facing in the U.S and beyond, the exchange is still taking major steps to expand its reach by introducing new features to better serve its customers. The exchange recently launched a crypto lending platform for institutional investors.
Designed purely for American investors, the new institutional-grade crypto lending platform, Coinbase Prime, will act as a full-service prime brokerage platform allowing institutions to execute trades and maintain assets.
