On April 7, 2022, Brian Armstrong, CEO of global crypto exchange Coinbase, announced that Indian customers can now buy tokens of their choice on its application with Indian Rupee. Armstrong informed that customers can purchase crypto with INR through the Coinbase app using UPI. Also, he said that 157 crypto assets will be accessible in a day for buyers on the app.
Coinbase has enabled the purchase and sale of cryptocurrency in Indian rupees at a time when there are concerns that the proposed 1% TDS will effectively end the crypto trade in the nation. In addition, the government has charged a 30% tax on revenue from cryptocurrency and other virtual digital assets in India. This is likely to discourage new investors from investing in crypto. Coinbase officials have declared that they are in India for a 10-20 years span.
Chief Product Officer at Coinbase, Surojit Chatterjee said, “We have just started our experiment. Our commitment is long-term. It is going to be a long journey. We want to be humble, and respectful and bring the technology in a trustworthy way”.
Currently, the majority of the banks do not allow Indian customers to use their accounts to purchase cryptocurrency. In response to a question on how Coinbase will work around this, Chatterjee declared that they are in discussion with several partners to make it easier to purchase crypto by paying INR using UPI. He also stated that Coinbase will adhere to all legal and regulatory requirements while allowing people to acquire cryptocurrency in a simple and reliable manner.
Moreover, the CEO Brain Armstrong has also informed that Coinbase is planning to hire 1000 employees in India this year. It will be a ‘remote-work’ job, however, employees will always have an option to visit the office for work. Currently, the company has a base of 300 full-time employees and around 35% of them are Bengaluru based.
