Coinbase Discontinues Services for ‘Policy Violators’ in India; Reportedly Shuts New Registrations

Coinbase on Monday clarified that it was not shutting operations in India, hours after reports surfaced that it had emailed customers asking them to withdraw their funds before September 25. The exchange reportedly stated that it is not ceasing its India operations for all users. The confusion over the company’s services in India comes just days after crypto-related suggestions and concerns were voiced by world leaders during the G20 Summit as well as the Global Fintech Fest 2023, both of which were held in the country last week.

Media reports earlier on Monday claimed Coinbase was going to discontinue its services in India citing an email that some of Coinbase’s India users received over the weekend. This email directed its receivers to withdraw any funds that were stored with the exchange.

The exchange has only sent this email to those of its users who have been identified to be in violation of its policies, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to Gadgets 360. More updates on the same remain awaited from the company’s end.

Meanwhile, a TechCrunch report states that the company has also stopped new registrations from users in India. “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. We will therefore be disabling these accounts and allow customers to update their information at a later date,” a company spokesperson told the publication.

Users of crypto exchanges in India need to provide KYC-related information as per company guidelines to access services on the direction of most government regulations.

Coinbase launched its services in India in April last year. In August 2022, when Coinbase announced that it was going to let Indian users purchase crypto on its app via UPI payments, the National Payments Corporations of India (NPCI) said it did not authorise Coinbase to provide this feature.

The exchange halted the release of this feature after the NPCI’s clarification, and was never rolled out to users in the country.

Due to a lack of clarity caused by the absence of crypto regulations, the government and the RBI have not been supportive of promoting crypto-related activities in the country, which was also criticised by Coinbase chief Brian Armstrong at the time.