Coinbase, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, along with an investor in Indian cryptocurrency exchanges Coindcx and CoinSwitch, has issued a crucial clarification in response to recent reports that suggested a complete halt of operations for its Indian customers.
These reports, highlighted by the local news media on September 11, 2023, initially indicated that all Coinbase services in India would be discontinued by September 25, suggesting their users withdraw their remaining funds.
However, it is essential to highlight that this notice was not a blanket measure affecting all Indian customers. Instead, it was specifically targeted at those accounts found to be in breach of the exchange’s revised standards. A Coinbase spokesperson shared a portion of the email sent on September 8, stating,
“We are reaching out to inform you that we will be discontinuing all Coinbase Retail services linked to your above-mentioned account, as we will be disabling access for the retail accounts that no longer meet our updated standards for these services.”
The spokesperson also clarified that this action was taken only against accounts that were found to be not in compliance with Coinbase’s updated standards. They explained that during a routine system review, certain accounts were identified as not meeting these standards, and consequently, these accounts would be disabled.
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However, it’s crucial to reassure affected users that their funds remain secure and that they can continue to withdraw their balances and transfer them to other cryptocurrency service providers until September 25, 2023. In May, Armstrong the CEO said Coinbase had to pause all trading services in India as it got informal pressure from the Reserve Bank of India.
It’s worth noting that Coinbase initially launched its services in India on April 7, 2022. Unfortunately, just days later, on April 11, the exchange had to suspend payment services via the United Payments Interface (UPI) due to regulatory pressures. Indian users who had already acquired cryptocurrencies before the UPI suspension could still engage in peer-to-peer trading with other users. As of the latest update, Indian users on Coinbase are only able to withdraw their existing cryptocurrency assets from their accounts.
