Coinbase in talks with India's FIU for potential re-entry: TechCrunch

Coinbase is reportedly in talks with India’s financial regulator to seek a re-entry into the country. The crypto exchange is “engaging with various Indian authorities,” including the Financial Intelligence Unit, TechCrunch reported today, citing two people familiar with the matter.

The news comes after Coinbase disabled its support for the Unified Payments Interface in India in April 2022, just days after marking its entry into the Indian market. UPI is a real-time payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India to facilitate inter-bank transactions using a mobile phone.

“Coinbase is excited by the opportunities in the Indian market, and intends to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, but we have nothing to announce regarding a FIU registration at this time,” a Coinbase spokesperson told The Block.

Earlier this month, Ajay Seth, India's economic affairs secretary, told Reuters that the country was reviewing its stance on cryptocurrencies in response to global regulatory shifts. “More than one or two jurisdictions have changed their stance towards cryptocurrency in terms of the usage, their acceptance, where do they see the importance of crypto assets,” they said. “In that stride, we are having a look at the discussion paper once again.”

Some other global exchanges have recently become available in India. Last week, Bybit announced that it completed its registration with the FIU after agreeing to settle a penalty of 92.7 million rupees ($1 million). Binance also re-entered India in August last year after paying a $2.25 million penalty.

The FIU did not immediately respond to The Block’s request for comment.