Coinbase has provided a clarification following a widely shared report suggesting it would cease all activities for its clients in India.
On Sept. 11, TechCrunch and Economic Times reported that Coinbase India users received an email warning that all services would stop by Sept. 25 and advised them to withdraw any remaining funds from the exchange. However, it is now clear that the message was targeted at users violating the exchange’s policies, not all Indian users.
The email sent on Sept. 8, shared by a Coinbase representative with Cointelegraph, stated, “We are notifying you that we will be ending all Coinbase Retail services associated with your aforementioned account because we are deactivating access for retail accounts that no longer adhere to our revised criteria for these services.”
It also mentioned, “This will not affect your ability to access or use Coinbase Cloud services, which will still be available through your account.”
The representative emphasized that the email was only sent to those accounts that Coinbase identified as violating their “revised criteria.”
During a recent regular review of our systems, some accounts were found to no longer comply with our revised criteria. As a result, we will be deactivating these accounts and allowing customers to update their information at a later date,” the representative further explained.
However, the reports also indicated that Coinbase has stopped allowing Indian users to register on its exchange, instead directing them to download its Coinbase Wallet app.
This change has been effective since June and only affects exchange accounts, as clarified by a Coinbase representative. “We stopped permitting new user registrations on our exchange product in India in June of this year. We maintain a strong tech hub in the country and offer live products, including our Coinbase Wallet. We are dedicated to India for the long term and are continually looking for ways to reinforce our presence in this crucial market,” they further explained.
Coinbase began operations in India on April 7, 2022, but shortly after, on April 11, it suspended United Payments Interface (UPI) payment services on its platform for Indian users due to local regulatory pressures. Indian users who bought crypto before the UPI shutdown could trade existing crypto assets in their wallets with others via peer-to-peer or P2P trading. However, as of the publication time, Indian users on Coinbase can only withdraw existing crypto assets from their accounts.
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