Coinbase Expands India Presence With INR Payment Rails

Key Insights

• Coinbase launched direct INR deposit and withdrawal support in India through IMPS.
• The exchange now offers spot trading, perpetual futures, and local INR order books.
• The company is registered with FIU-IND and operates under Indian compliance rules.

Coinbase has launched direct Indian rupee deposit and withdrawal support for users in India, giving local customers a way to move money between Indian bank accounts and the exchange through the IMPS payment network.

The move removes the need for peer-to-peer workarounds and third-party intermediaries that Indian crypto traders had previously relied on to access the platform.

The launch covers spot trading across a range of assets, perpetual futures contracts on major crypto assets, and local INR order books that hold dedicated liquidity for Indian customers. Users also retain access to the company’s global exchange.

Coinbase said the move is the latest step in a multi-year build-out of its presence across one of the largest crypto markets in the world.

Coinbase Adds Local INR Order Books and Futures Trading

Indian customers can now deposit and withdraw INR via IMPS without relying on peer-to-peer rails or intermediaries.

The exchange has built local INR order books that provide dedicated liquidity for Indian customers.

For customers looking for advanced functionality, the Coinbase Advanced product offers professional-grade tools including APIs built to institutional standards, WebSocket order book streaming, and a full range of order types.

TradingView charting is integrated for customers who prefer a discretionary trading approach.

Taker fees on Coinbase Advanced come in at levels competitive with local Indian platforms, with no deposit fees on INR transfers.

Beyond the headline fee structure, the company pointed to execution quality as a factor for higher-volume traders.

The new infrastructure runs alongside the existing Coinbase product set. Indian users can deposit INR from their bank accounts through IMPS, trade on spot or futures markets, and withdraw INR back to their bank when ready.

Existing Coinbase users in India will see INR support roll out across their accounts, with new users able to register at the platform’s main domain.

A Multi-Year Build-Out of the India Presence

The INR launch follows a long stretch of investment by Coinbase in the Indian crypto ecosystem. The exchange is an investor in CoinDCX, one of India’s leading domestic crypto platforms.

Through Base, its Ethereum Layer 2 network, the company has put more than $1 million into the Indian builder community through hackathons, direct grants, and fellowships.

More than 4,000 builders in India have built projects on Base, with around 150 of those projects growing into real startups.

The company has sponsored Indian students and founders to attend Network School in Malaysia and flown teams to New York and San Francisco to pitch at Demo Days.

On the regulatory side, Coinbase registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit of India and complies with the country’s taxation law requirements.

India’s Current Crypto Stance

India’s regulatory position on crypto remains cautious but not prohibitive. Cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, are legal to buy, sell, and hold in the country, although crypto does not carry legal tender status and is not recognized as an official currency for payments.

Crypto gains in India remain subject to a 30 percent tax, with a 1 percent tax deducted at source applying to many transactions. Exchanges operating in the country must register with FIU-IND and comply with anti-money-laundering requirements.

The country does not yet have a comprehensive crypto law that fully defines the regulatory framework for digital assets across all use cases.

The Indian government and the Reserve Bank of India continue to express concerns about financial stability risks tied to private cryptocurrencies.

The RBI has remained more supportive of its own central bank digital currency, the digital rupee.

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