Coinbase is in talks with several authorities in India, including the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), to reopen operations in the Indian market. The firm is seeking to compete with Binance, which resumed local operations last August.
Coinbase Quietly Preparing for Re-Entry to India
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Coinbase in Conversations to Relaunch Operations in India
Coinbase, one of the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchanges, is preparing to expand in South Asia. According to Techcrunch, the company is preparing to relaunch in India, a market it abandoned in 2022.
Exchange executives are in talks with India’s authorities to determine the best way to reenter, according to anonymous sources.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), India’s money laundering and illicit transaction watchdog, is involved in these discussions. The exchange must obtain a license from the unit to operate in the country, as the lack of a license was one reason for its exit nearly three years ago.
On the issue, a Coinbase spokesperson stated:
Coinbase is excited by the opportunities in the Indian market and intends to comply with applicable regulatory requirements.
Coinbase’s activities in India began with its launch in 2022. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong expressed his excitement about the launch, stating that web and crypto would accelerate the country’s economic and financial inclusion goals.
At that time, Coinbase had invested heavily in Indian partners and had over 300 employees across the country as part of a crypto hub initiative.
Read more: Coinbase Actively Building Crypto Hub in India, Looking to Hire ‘Hundreds’ of People
Armstrong disclosed that Coinbase planned to hire over 1,000 people in that year.
However, things went south as the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which manages UPI, a very popular payment rain in the country, disavowed the exchange from using this tool to onboard customers.
Armstrong later stated that this was part of a shadow ban that the government was applying to the exchange in the country. “Basically, they’re applying soft pressure behind the scenes to try to disable some of these payments, which might be going through UPI,” he asseverated.
Read more: Crypto Exchange Coinbase Halts Service in India Due to ‘Informal Pressure’ From Central Bank RBI
Now, the exchange is rushing to be again part of the crypto sphere in India, as Binance, one of its largest rivals, also relaunched after halting its operations months ago.
