The announcement was made during an event in Bengaluru, India’s innovation powerhouse.
Coinbase (COIN) said on Thursday that its cryptocurrency trading services are now available to users in India.
The exchange’s app will now be available in India, the company announced during an event in Bengaluru, India’s innovation capital. By trading volume, Coinbase is the world’s second-largest exchange.
Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong, who has been in India for a few weeks, initially declared that the business is making a “long-term investment” in India. Surojit Chatterjee, the company’s Chief Product Officer, then showed user onboarding on the exchange.
The news comes at a time when India has proposed new crypto taxes that are rather severe. The bill contains a 30% tax on earnings from cryptocurrency transactions, which went into force on April 1, and a contentious 1% tax deducted at source (TDS), which will go into effect on July 1.
Armstrong acknowledged the regulatory issue of marketing the technology to mainstream acceptability at a time when the excitement has waned as a result of the new tax legislation. “We understand that bringing this technology to market will not be easy. We don’t know exactly how it will develop. But we’re dedicated to working with bank partners, authorities, and, most importantly, the Indian people because there’s a genuine interest in cryptocurrencies and a want to have access to some of these services and goods “He stated.
Onboarding on Coinbase would necessitate the creation of a UPI payment option. UPI (Unified Payments Interface) is a real-time payment system that allows for peer-to-peer and person-to-merchant transactions and is governed by the Indian central bank.
“India has showed a remarkable readiness with UPI,” Armstrong remarked. Chatterjee described how establishing UPI would be the first step towards purchasing cryptocurrency. Chatterjee further stated that Coinbase had “invested over $150 million in over ten Indian firms,” including “Polygon, CoinDCX, and CoinSwitch.”
Coinbase stated earlier this week that it intends to employ 1,000 individuals in India for its innovation center by the end of the year.