Popular US cryptocurrency exchange CoinBase has made its India debut, with whopping investments and job opportunities. Founder and CEO Brian Armstrong made the announcement at an event in Bangalore.
The app will allow users to purchase cryptocurrency tokens using INR via UPI. While most Indian banks have not been enthusiastic (and that would be the understatement of the year) about cryptocurrency transactions, CoinBase claims to be working with several banks to enable UPI on their platform. Names of the banks were not disclosed. The app will be offering 157 crypto tokens for purchase on release.
This comes at a time where despite the global enthusiasm surrounding cryptocurrency and virtual assets, the Indian government has taken a rather regressive position. The tax law in India levies a 30% tax on all transactions in digital assets, and a highly debated 1% tax deducted from source (TDS) on transactions exceeding ₹10,000. The latter has been a huge reason why optism surrounding crypto has been dipping in the country. India currently has around 15 million active users of crypto.
Commenting on the challenges thrown by the law of the land, Founder and CEO Brian Armstrong said “We know it’s not going to be a straight shot to bring this technology. We don’t know exactly how it’s going to evolve. But we’re committed to working with bank partners, regulators, most importantly, the Indian people because they’ve shown a real spark of interest in cryptocurrency, and there’s a real desire to get access to some of these services and products”
CoinBase had earlier announced their plans to expand their workforce to 1,000 in India. They also announced an investment of $150 million in the Indian market. While this does mark their debut as a standalone crypto exchange platform in India, their presence in the Indian market is not breaking news. CoinBase is a stakeholder in local platforms CoinSwitch Kuber and CoinDCX.
