The leading cryptocurrency exchange – Coinbase – has reportedly disabled new customer sign-ups on its platform in India.

However, the company remains committed to the Asian country despite the recent rumors that it might pull out of the local market.

No More Sign-ups

According to a TechCrunch report, Coinbase has prohibited new sign-ups in India in June this year. A spokesperson of the firm shed more detail:

“We stopped allowing new user sign-ups on our exchange product in India back in June of this year. We maintain a robust tech hub in the country and offer live products, including our Coinbase Wallet. We are committed to India over the long term and continue to explore ways to strengthen our presence in this important market.”

The platform launched operations in India in April last year, enabling clients to engage in trading services using the local Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payment system. Nonetheless, the latter’s management team refused to acknowledge Coinbase’s expansion into India, prompting the marketplace to terminate support for the settlement instrument a few days later. 

Brian Armstrong (CEO of the exchange) has criticized the stance that the central bank of India has shown towards cryptocurrencies over the past year. He noted that trading with digital assets is not illegal in the nation, but there are “elements in the government there, including at Reserve Bank of India, who don’t seem to be as positive on it.”

“And so they — in the press, it’s been called a ‘shadow ban,’ basically, they’re applying soft pressure