Coinbase Reopens India Operations After 2-Year Hiatus, INR Support Coming in 2026

Coinbase has returned to India after two years of shutdown, and it will launch a fiat (INR) crypto option in early 2026. Starting today, new users can sign up, and old users can re-register on the website. Coinbase was forced to pause its Indian operations in September 2023 due to informal regulatory pressure from the government institutions.

Coinbase Resumes Operations in India Following FIU Registration and Strategic CoinDCX Investment

Following the 2022 launch of Coinbase in India, the Reserve Bank (RBI) and the National Payments Corporation (NPCI) began informal regulatory pressure by releasing statements that advised caution against UPI payments in crypto exchanges. While the authorities did not officially ban the exchange, Coinbase was forced to voluntarily shut down its operations. 

After suspending the trading operations, the Coinbase exchange asked its users to withdraw their funds to their own private wallets, but the wallet services continued. The main concern of Indian authorities was the use of UPI for peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto transactions, which raised various issues regarding fraud. However, the situation has changed after two years, and Coinbase formally registered with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in March 2025 and has resumed operations today.

Following the approval in March, Coinbase also enhanced its presence in India by investing in CoinDCX, India’s leading crypto exchange. John O’Loghlen, the Regional Managing Director for APAC at Coinbase, has stated that India represents one of the most exciting market opportunities in the world today, and the company is proud to deepen its investment in full compliance with local regulations.  

Coinbase to Enable Indian Rupee (INR) Deposits and Withdrawals by Early 2026

Since India now recognizes Coinbase as a compliant Virtual Digital Asset Service Provider (VDA SP) under India’s Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) through the approval of FIU,  the company can unlock Indian banking and fiat access. According to the latest reports, Coinbase will begin INR deposits and withdrawals in early 2026, which will attract a large number of crypto traders. 

Old users should re-register and complete the full KYC procedures to use the platform, and their old data will not be restored. Since every user will have withdrawn their assets in 2023, registering as a new account in 2025 won’t be much of a problem for them. In addition, the old users can still use and link their old Coinbase wallets to the new account.

As a country that has around 120 million crypto holders, India is capable of boosting Coinbase’s user base in the near future. Coinbase has been expanding its ecosystem to various countries other than the U.S. and Europe, including Singapore, Australia, Turkey, Vietnam, and South Africa.

Also Read: Crypto Theft: Indian Man Loses Over $130,000 to Crypto Investment Scam