Coinbase, a crypto exchange platform has announced that its crypto trading services are now available to users in India.
The exchange’s app will now be available in India, according to the company, which announced the news during an event in Bengaluru, India’s innovation capital. By trade volume, Coinbase is the world’s second-largest exchange.
Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong, who has been in India for the past few weeks, originally declared that the business is making a “long-term investment” in the country. Surojit Chatterjee, the company’s Chief Product Officer, then showed user onboarding on the exchange.
The announcement comes as India prepares to implement new crypto taxes. The law includes a controversial 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) that will take effect on July 1 and a 30% tax on earnings from crypto transactions that went into force on April 1.
Armstrong acknowledged the regulatory challenges of marketing the technology to mainstream acceptability at a time when enthusiasm has waned as a result of the new tax code.
“We know it’s not going to be a straight shot to bring this technology. We don’t know exactly how it’s going to evolve. But we’re committed to working with bank partners, regulators, most importantly, the Indian people because they’ve shown a real spark of interest in cryptocurrency, and there’s a real desire to get access to some of these services and products,” he said.
Setting up a UPI payment method is required for Coinbase onboarding. The Indian central bank regulates UPI (Unified Payments Interface), an immediate real-time payment system that allows peer-to-peer and person-to-merchant transactions.
Armstrong said, “India has shown a great willingness with UPI.” Chatterjee explained how setting up UPI would be the first step in buying crypto. Chatterjee also said Coinbase has “invested over $150 million in over 10 companies in India” including “Polygon, CoinDCX, CoinSwitch.”
Coinbase stated earlier this week that by the end of the year, it aims to hire 1,000 individuals in India at its tech hub.
