Coinbase has extended the deadline for the closure of Indian users’ accounts and withdrawal of funds to October 31, weeks after the global crypto exchange decided to discontinue its services in the country. The earlier deadline was September 25.
“We have extended the timeline for closure of your above-mentioned Coinbase account to 31 October 2023 so that you are able to withdraw any funds, held in your account, by such date,” Coinbase said in email, which was reviewed by Moneycontrol, to its users.
It reiterated that users could send their funds to other crypto wallets or services (subject to standard network and transaction fees), including Coinbase Wallet.
Despite what looks like an exit, the email also said that the company remained committed to the Indian market in the long term.
“We are committed to India over the long term and continue to explore ways to strengthen our presence in this important market,” it said.
Earlier when Moneycontrol reached out, a Coinbase support executive had said, “At this time, we do not know when we will be able to offer these services to you again.”
The company had earlier said it was discontinuing all services to accounts that “no longer meet their updated standards”.
Coinbase entered India in April 2022 but ran into trouble immediately. In the beginning, it announced that it would offer the UPI payment option to buy and sell crypto on the platform but had to stop the service shortly after facing pressure from regulators.
In May 2022, CEO Brian Armstrong during an earnings call said the company was facing “soft pressure” from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) behind the scenes to disable UPI-based payments.
To be sure, RBI's stance on crypto has been cautious so far. In January 2023, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das had said, "If crypto is allowed in India, RBI will lose control over monitoring transactions."
Speaking at Moneycontrol's Startup Conclave in July, RBI deputy governor, T Rabi Shankar said, "People trading crypto is not the concern but the unbacked cryptocurrencies and the product itself alongside its backers is the problem.”
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