Coinbase is in India for the long-term: CEO Brian Armstrong

Announces UPI-backed crypto trading for Indian users

US-based crypto platform Coinbase, which debuted on Nasdaq last year at a market capitalisation of $100 billion, announced the launch of its crypto trading platform in India on Thursday. 

The company said that crypto traders in India can sign up on the platform with their Aadhaar cards and use their United Payments Interface (UPI) accounts to buy and sell crypto on the app.

“Coinbase has a long-term plan for investing in India. It has a lot of engineering and entrepreneurial talent, and has shown a lot of willingness to embrace new technologies”, founder and CEO Brian Armstrong said at an event in Bengaluru.

“We know it is not a straight shot to bring this technology and it will take time to evolve. Nothing will happen overnight. But we are committed to working with bank partners and regulators. Indian people have shown a real desire to use crypto and get access to some of these services and products,” he added.

The company’s India tech hub currently employs 300 full-time staff and the company plans to hire over 1,000 people in the country this year. Coinbase Ventures, the company’s venture capital arm, has already invested $150 million in home-grown Indian technology companies in the crypto and Web3 space, and is constantly identifying new opportunities to help Indian founders scale, the company said.

Coinbase’s India entry comes even as domestic cryptocurrency exchanges have witnessed a sharp fall in volumes on the first week of April following the implementation of a new tax regime. The fall in volumes is between 15 and 55 per cent among various crypto exchanges. Even the number of visitors on these exchanges has fallen.

The 30 per cent flat tax introduced in this year’s Budget, no provision to set off losses in the same category, applicability of TDS and GST, not only increases compliance for small investors but also restricts growth of the ecosystem. All these came into force from last Friday, that is April 1.