In a recent development, cryptocurrency exchange giant Coinbase has announced that it will suspend certain services for Indian users who fail to meet the platform’s updated standards. The decision was revealed via an email notification sent to affected users and created a stir in the Indian crypto community. Here are the details…
Coinbase causes panic in India
As TechCrunch reports, Coinbase India sent email notifications on September 11, 2023, informing users that their service will be suspended until September 25. The email urged affected users to immediately withdraw any remaining funds from their accounts. However, it was later clarified by a Coinbase spokesperson that this email is not a general notification to all Indian citizens, but specifically aimed at users who are behaving against the platform’s revised standards.
Coinbase said in an email that it would stop providing all trading services to users in India after September 25 and advised users to withdraw all funds in their accounts. Additionally, Coinbase has banned Indian users from registering on the exchange, advising them to download…
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) September 11, 2023
In the email shared by the spokesperson, “We are reaching out to inform you that we will be stopping all Coinbase Personal services linked to your aforementioned account. Because we will now disable access to individual accounts that do not meet our current standards for these services. More importantly, the email assured users that their access to Coinbase Cloud services would not be affected, so customers could continue to access their accounts through those services.
Statements have arrived
A Coinbase spokesperson later reiterated that email notifications are only sent to account holders found to be violating the platform’s current standards. “During a recent routine review of our systems, some accounts were identified that no longer meet our updated standards. Therefore we will disable these accounts. “We will allow customers to update their information at a later date,” he said.
Most importantly, funds belonging to affected users remain safe with Coinbase, the spokesperson said. He emphasized that until the suspension goes into effect on September 25, users will have the opportunity to withdraw their balance or transfer it to other cryptocurrency service providers. Simultaneously, Coinbase reportedly blocked new Indian users from signing up for the exchange, instead encouraging them to download Coinbase Wallet, a wallet app offered by the platform.
What can users do now?
This latest development comes a year and a half after Coinbase first stepped into the Indian market. The exchange started its operations in India on April 7, 2022. However, just a few days later, on April 11, 2022, Coinbase discontinued payment services for Indian users through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on its platform. This decision was attributed to regulatory pressures within the country. Despite the shutdown of UPI services, Indian users who had previously purchased cryptocurrencies from Coinbase were able to trade their current holdings via peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions on the platform. However, as of the time of writing, Indian users on Coinbase are limited to using existing crypto assets in their account.
