The company said customers in India can now deposit and withdraw rupee directly from their bank accounts via IMPS (Immediate Payment Service), “without reliance on P2P (peer-to-peer payment) rails or intermediaries”. This comes more than a year after Coinbase registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit, Finance Ministry’s anti-money laundering focused intelligence gathering arm. The focus on India as a market comes as the company continues to see high adoption, even as the country is yet to frame regulations around cryptocurrency.
“The adoption here in the market has not slowed down, albeit the regulation has lagged. We’ve also had the experience of operating in a lot of jurisdictions where we’ve seen that regulation evolve and mature. We have a humble confidence in the journey of the regulatory settings in India,” John O’Loghlen, head of Asia Pacific, Coinbase, told Business Standard.
While he did not disclose numbers around its current user base in the country, he explained that the average revenue per user (Arpu) in India would remain modest compared to other geographies where the US headquartered crypto exchange operator is present. Coinbase, meanwhile, has so far made 10 investments in India.
“We’re effectively running a two-horse race here (in India) with a significant investment in CoinDCX and our organic play with Coinbase’s own retail launch. That is a way that the board and our leadership see us as having maximum exposure to this market,” O’Loghlen said.
In October, CoinDCX raised fresh capital from Coinbase at a post-money valuation of $2.45 billion. Coinbase would continue to co-exist alongside its portfolio investments in Indian crypto firms, John said, adding that there was enough room for more players in the market.
“It’s a friendly rivalry and a competition. The point is we want to have as much exposure as we can to the market and also be working with as much of the market. There’s enough room for a two- or three-, or four-horse race in India,” he said.
India has multiple crypto exchanges, including domestic ones such as CoinDCX, CoinSwitch, Mudrex, and WazirX, among others along with increasing global interest from firms such as Binance and Coinbase.
Coinbase claims to hold the majority of its customers’ crypto in cold wallets. The company also has a crime insurance policy covering theft and cybersecurity.
“The Arpu here will be lower than in some of our other markets. But the mass number, the numerator, is incredibly large,” O’Loghlen explained.
Through Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer 2 network, the company has invested over $1 million in the Indian builder community via hackathons, direct grants, and fellowships.
More than 4,000 builders in India have built on Base, with around 150 projects growing into startups.
 "John O'Loghlen, head of Apac, Coinbase, said the company would continue to coexist alongside its portfolio investments")