Cryptocurrency exchange CoinSwitch Kuber has disabled all modes of payments for purchasing crypto purchases on its platform including bank transfers. This comes two days after Coinbase had to disable the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) which was the only crypto purchase option on its platform.
On CoinSwitch's app too, Indian Rupee (INR) deposits through UPI as well as other modes including bank transfer have been paused, effectively leaving no mode to load the app's wallet to buy cryptocurrency. This will have a significant impact on the platform's trading volumes which saw over 14 million users in 2021.
Moneycontrol reached out to CoinSwitch with queries and the company's response is awaited.
Crypto exchanges in India have been in the eye of the storm ever since the government announced its decision to impose a 30 percent taxation on gains from cryptocurrencies which was implemented on April 1.
Payment method options on exchanges have been reducing since then, with Mobikwik which was the only wallet across multiple platforms also having withdrawn its services starting April 1.
This was followed by Coinbase launching crypto trading services in India which it announced in a mega event where it said that customers will be allowed to use UPI for purchases. However, the same day the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) which operates UPI said in a statement that it is not aware of any crypto platform using UPI.
Coinbase disabled the UPI option soon after, leaving no option to buy cryptocurrencies on its platform. The NASDAQ-listed company's investment arm Coinbase ventures has also invested in CoinSwitch and CoinDCX, the only two unicorn crypto exchanges in India.
Trading volumes in India have also plunged since April 1 led by the apprehension due to the taxation and also Mobikwik's withdrawal of its wallet. Moneycontrol reported on April 11 that volumes fell by over 50 percent in the previous week, according to data shared by research firm CREBACO.
Moneycontrol had earlier reported that transaction volumes plunged 55 percent while domain traffic dropped 40 percent on India's top cryptocurrency exchanges in the first two days after the crypto tax came into effect.
This is expected to slide further after the 1 percent TDS (tax deduction at source) comes into effect on all crypto transactions starting July 1.
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