After a pause of more than two years, crypto exchange Coinbase has opened its app for registration in India. At the moment, users are able to make crypto-to-crypto trades — but speaking at India Blockchain Week (IBW), Coinbase’s APAC director John O’Loghlen said the company will open up a fiat on-ramp in 2026, allowing users in India to load money and buy crypto.
Coinbase opened up its services in India in 2022, and within days had to shut down support for the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payment network. This move came after UPI operator National Payments Corporation (NPCI) refused to acknowledge Coinbase’s presence in the country. Later in 2023, Coinbase ceased all operations for Indian users and asked them to offload their accounts.
“We had millions of customers in India, historically, and we took a very clear stance to off-board those customers entirely from overseas entities, where they were domiciled and regulated. Because we wanted to kind of burn the boats [sic], have a clean slate here. As a commercial business person wanting to make money and active users, that’s like the worst thing you can do, and so you know it wasn’t without some hesitation,” O’Loghlen said.
The company started engaging with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), a government agency that oversees transactions and fraud, and eventually registered with them this year. In October, it started to onboard users through early access, and now the app is open to all users.
Many Internet companies have set up their base in India hoping to tap into the world’s second-largest online user base. While social platforms and AI companies like OpenAI have found rapid growth in the market, it has been hard for crypto companies to follow the same path because of strict regulations and taxation around cryptocurrencies.
India levies a 30% tax on crypto income without any loss offset and also charges 1% deduction on each transaction, which could discourage users from trading frequently. O’Loghlen said that the company hopes that the government will relax the taxation to make it less burdensome for people to hold digital assets.
Despite these challenges, Coinbase seems to be hopeful about India. The company’s venture arm pumped in more money in local exchange CoinDCX at a $2.45 billion post-money valuation. It also plans to bolster its 500 plus team in the country by hiring for multiple roles focusing on both local and global markets.
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“I think we want to be known as that trusted exchange, ensure that your funds are safe with us,” O’Loghlen said. “We’re not going to get out to the masses if you can’t have a really nice UI, a trusted experience that allows you to on board in a matter of minutes in the same way that you do with you know Zepto or Flipkart or any other super app in India.”
