It’s been less than four days since Coinbase launched its trading service in India, the world’s second-largest internet market, yet the company has already stopped supporting UPI payments on its Indian app.
No UPI payment mechanism is presently accessible on the Coinbase app for users in India who want to buy any cryptocurrency mentioned on the app. App users, testing, and the company’s own website have all stated that the app does not presently allow any other payment option for transactions in the nation. When it comes to the sale of tokens, it continues to provide Immediate Payment Service (IPS).
Coinbase’s action comes only hours after the National Payments Corporation of India, the country’s regulatory organisation in charge of UPI, made an odd remark, saying it was unaware of any crypto exchange utilising UPI as a payment tool. In the last several weeks, Coinbase has been testing UPI payments in the Indian market.
That day, Coinbase claimed it was working with the National Payments Corporation of India and other appropriate authorities, and that it was experimenting with other payment methods. In an interview with TechCrunch on Thursday, Coinbase was asked whether it would continue to accept UPI payments while it was negotiating with different authorities. When I asked a query, they didn’t answer me back.
India’s payments body, a special section of the central bank, explained why other crypto exchanges in India have struggled to implement UPI, the most common method of online transactions in the country.
In the South Asian market, cryptocurrencies are not illegal, but the Reserve Bank of India maintains that virtual digital assets need further oversight. Over two years ago, the Supreme Court of India reversed the Reserve Bank of India’s crypto prohibition, yet banks continue to stand with the central bank on the whole. According to the NPCI’s announcement, UPI is still off-limits to crypto in India.
Scuffle occurs at a time when India is enacting a new legislation that taxes crypto revenue at 30%. The Indian government seems to be legitimising cryptocurrency, but the country’s financial institutions aren’t cooperating.
To bolster its already strong presence in India, where it employs 300 employees and has invested in a number of local crypto companies, including the two most important ones in the nation, CoinSwitch Kuber and CoinDCX, the company launched a presence in the country earlier this week.
Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong stated earlier this week that the company was making a long-term investment on India and expected to more than increase its workforce in the nation to 1,000 this year.
India is becoming a big market for FTX, a newer crypto exchange that is becoming a major competition to Coinbase. Sources tell us that the company’s venture arm is working with a few firms in the nation. According to TechCrunch, it’s also in negotiations to invest in the Indian fantasy sports company MPL, which was previously reported.