Coinbase seeks to re-enter the Indian market and is in contact with various departments

Odaily Planet Daily News According to two people familiar with the matter, Coinbase is working to return to the Indian market more than a year after officially stopping operations in India. The cryptocurrency exchange is approaching various Indian departments, including the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), an Indian government agency responsible for reviewing financial transactions. Coinbase's previous attempt to launch services in India ended abruptly in 2022. The exchange re-entered the Indian market in April of the same year, introducing support for the country's widely used Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system. The company had to suspend the service just three days later because the National Payments Corporation of India, which regulates UPI, refused to recognize Coinbase's operations. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong later revealed that the company faced "informal pressure" from the Reserve Bank of India, which led to the suspension of trading. According to many entrepreneurs, investors and other officials, although cryptocurrency trading is not illegal in India, lenders mostly refuse to do business with virtual asset companies in the country to avoid angering the central bank. The time when Coinbase may restart depends on how long it takes to obtain the necessary approvals, including obtaining a license to operate from the Financial Intelligence Agency. The agency previously ruled that many exchanges, including Kraken and Binance, were operating “illegally” in India. Many of these companies have since complied with the FIU’s regulations, which require more extensive disclosure of user activity.