Coinbase Addresses Rumors of Service Halt for Indian Users

Recently circulated rumors claimed that Coinbase will stop serving customers in India. The bitcoin exchange has responded with an explanation. In contrast to prior rumors, it appears that the move is targeted at Indian users who have not passed Coinbase’s upgraded requirements rather than all Indian consumers.

The claims, which first appeared on September 11 in publications like TechCrunch and the Economic Times, claimed that customers of Coinbase India had received emails informing them that the service will end on September 25. Users were advised to take any unspent money out of their accounts.

However, Coinbase has shed light on the matter, explaining that the notice was targeted specifically at users who were not in compliance with the exchange’s standards. According to a Coinbase spokesperson, the email sent on September 8 stated, “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 spokesman highlighted that users’ access to Coinbase Cloud services would not be impacted by this move; they will still be available. According to Coinbase’s position, the email was only sent to account holders who were discovered to be in breach of the revised requirements.

The spokesperson elaborated, “It is possible that during the course of a recent routine review of our systems, some accounts may have been identified that no longer meet our updated standards. We will therefore be disabling these accounts and allow customers to update their information at a later date.”

The representative stressed that the impacted consumers’ money is still secure and that they may still withdraw their monies and move them to other bitcoin service providers up until September 25.

The first, widely circulated rumor claimed that Coinbase had prevented Indian consumers from signing up for its exchange and had instead directed them to download Coinbase Wallet. The Coinbase spokesman emphasized that this step, which only affects exchange accounts, was in fact implemented in June.

The representative reiterated Coinbase’s dedication to India despite prior regulatory difficulties. On April 7, 2022, Coinbase began offering its services in India, however owing to governmental pressure, on April 11 it briefly stopped accepting payments through the United Payments Interface (UPI). Indian customers may only withdraw money from their Coinbase accounts at this time; however, they can exchange existing crypto assets in their wallets through peer-to-peer transfers.

While the bitcoin ecosystem is always changing, Coinbase is still looking for methods to increase its market share in India.