Coinbase Addresses Reports of Exiting India
- Some of Coinbase’s senior leadership team in India has left the exchange, including Arnab Kumar, the Director of India Market Expansion at Coinbase.
- Coinbase launched its crypto services in India in April 2022 but announced a suspension a few days later, citing local pressure.
- Coinbase plans to advance its wallet services in India.
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has released a clarification about its operations in India after it was widely reported that Coinbase India users had received emails informing them that all services would end on September 25 and advising them to withdraw any cash still on the exchange.
The alleged email sent to Indian customers read,
We are reaching out to inform you that we will be discontinuing all Coinbase Retail services linked to your above-mentioned account, as we will be disabling access for retail accounts that no longer meet our updated standards for these services. Please note that this does not impact your access to/use of Coinbase Cloud services, which will continue to be accessible to you through your account.
However, a Coinbase spokesperson clarified that the email was only aimed at Indian customers violating the exchange’s “updated standards.” The spokesperson explained that “it is possible that during the course of a recent routine review of our systems, some accounts may have been identified that no longer meet our updated standards.” The Coinbase spokesperson added that Coinbase would be “disabling these accounts and allowing customers to update their information at a later date.”
Coinbase assured the affected users of the safety of their funds and further noted that they could withdraw their balances and send them to other crypto service providers until September 25. In addition, a Coinbase spokesperson also addressed the reports that claimed that the exchange had stopped allowing Indian users to sign up for its platform but instead urged them to download its wallet application.
The spokesperson clarified that such procedures had been in place since June and only affected exchange accounts. The spokesperson said in a statement:
We stopped allowing new user sign-ups on our exchange product in India back in June of this year. We maintain a robust tech hub in the country and offer live products, including our Coinbase Wallet. We are committed to India over the long term and continue to explore ways to strengthen our presence in this important market.
Coinbase launched its trading operations in India in April 2022 but suspended all activities three days after the launch. The exchange had claimed that Unified Payments Services, or UPI, a domestic digital payment system in India, was essential to its operations. However, the organization in charge of the UPI said it was not aware of any crypto exchange using the UPI. Coinbase later cited pressure from local authorities as the reason for halting operations.
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