Coinbase looks to come back to India, in talks with regulators: Report
Coinbase is planning to re-enter the Indian market after a year-long exit, engaging with authorities like the FIU.
US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is working on re-entering the Indian market after exiting more than a year ago TechCrunch reported.
HT.com couldn't independently verify the information.
The exchange is engaging with various Indian authorities, including the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the government agency which scrutinizes financial transactions.
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This comes at a time when India is reviewing its stance on cryptocurrencies, primarily due to global regulatory shifts, and also recent US policy changes, according to a Reuters report which added that Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth told earlier this month that India's approach on the assets cannot be unilateral, since cryptocurrencies do not adhere to borders.
This comes after Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, resumed its operations in India in August 2024, having registered with the FIU after a seven-month regulatory halt.
Coinbase's last attempt to enter India was in 2022. It had launched in April that year, with support for United Payments Interface (UPI).
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However, the company had to suspend operations just three days later after the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) which operates UPI refused to acknowledge Coinbase’s operations, according to the report.
The exchange had also faced pressure from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), according to the report.
This is despite crypto trading not being illegal in India. However, lenders generally refuse to do business with crypto-related firms to avoid upsetting the RBI, the report read.
India's crypto market is still small. The government has been levying a 30% tax on crypto income and a 1% deduction from each transaction since 2022.
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At the moment, CoinSwitch and (both are backed by Coinbase) are the top Indian crypto exchanges ever since WazirX lost around half of its reserves in a heist.
Interestingly, Paul Grewal, the chief legal officer of Coinbase has this week, joined the board of directors of the US-India Business Council, part of the US Chamber of Commerce.
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