Coinbase has resumed user registrations in India after more than two years, marking the company’s first return to the Indian market, which it abruptly exited in 2023 amid regulatory friction over payments rails.
Asia Pacific director John O’Loghlen said at last week’s India Blockchain Week that the exchange is once again allowing new registrations and cryptocurrency trading, with plans to reintroduce fiat onboarding next year.
The move comes after a long standoff sparked in 2022, when Coinbase launched in India with support for the country’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), only to withdraw the feature within days after the network operator publicly refused to recognize the exchange.
Coinbase later halted services entirely, shutting down millions of Indian users and shutting down local access while it reassessed regulatory risks.
Olorun said the company chose a “start from scratch” approach and began working directly with the financial intelligence unit of the agency responsible for monitoring digital asset transactions. Coinbase completed FIU registration earlier this year and began accepting users through an early access program in October.
The app is now widely available, but trading is still limited to cryptocurrency pairs until fiat currencies return.
India remains one of the most difficult major markets for exchanges to operate in due to a 30% flat tax on cryptocurrency gains, a ban on loss offsets, and a 1% transaction tax that dampens trading volumes.
Despite regulatory uncertainty, Coinbase continues to invest in the country. Its venture capital arm recently increased its stake in local exchange CoinDCX at a $2.45 billion valuation, and the company plans to expand its workforce of more than 500 Indian employees across domestic and global product lines.