Coinbase denies India closure despite blocking sign-ups and warning users

Coinbase says it’s still dedicated to its exchange business in India despite disabling new user sign-ups in the country three months ago.

The company has also moved to reassure Indian users about the exchange’s future after a number of customer emails seemed to suggest that the company might be shuttering its operations in the region.

A number of Indian users reportedly received messages from the exchange informing them that they had until later this month to move their funds before Coinbase halts its services.

However, the US-based company has since pointed out that these emails were specifically addressed to “some customers who didn’t meet the company’s updated standards” and that “the message was not representative of Coinbase’s India operations,” (via TechCrunch).

In a statement, a Coinbase spokesperson said: “We stopped allowing new user sign-ups on our exchange product in India back in June of this year. We maintain a robust tech hub in the country and offer live products, including our Coinbase Wallet.

“We are committed to India over the long term and continue to explore ways to strengthen our presence in this important market.”

Read more: Coinbase tells SEC it no longer thinks crypto is the future of finance

Coinbase in India started badly and got worse

Since launching in India in April last year, Coinbase has found making inroads into the country heavy going.

Shortly after launch, despite Coinbase boasting about how easy it would be to trade on its app using Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) — the organization that governs payment processing in the country — tweeted to clarify that it had no record of any crypto exchange doing so.

As a result, the exchange suspended its operation.

Speaking at the time, a source close to the matter told CoinDesk, “What Armstrong and Coinbase don’t get is that in India, RBI (the Reserve Bank of India, which oversees the NPCI) is the all-mighty in the financial world and you can’t just come in and do whatever the hell you want whoever you may be and not expect backlash.”

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