Coinbase launches INT deposit and withdrawals in India

[Joy_learns_crypto]

Good news for the India cryptocurrency society because according to Cointelegraph https://x.com/cointelegraph/status/2061398707191316756?s=46 Coinbase has launched direct INR which is the Indian local currency withdrawal and deposit on their exchange.

This is not just an inclusion of a local currency on an exchange, this is a massive news because on Coinbase the Indian cryptocurrency community can directly withdraw and deposit INR removing many difficulties for the Indian cryptocurrency community.

This good news will increase the grassroot adoption of cryptocurrencies in India. Is this a good news for India or not?

[Agbamoni]

The indians were having difficulty using the Centralised exchange until this news was announced. I think they were using local licensed foreign exchange operators in India to carry out transactions. Anyone should correct me if im wrong, but the last time I spoke with someone from India on Fiverr, he spoke of the challenges over there. This is good news for the Indians, before now I only knew of 8 countries which their fiat has been listed on coinbase including the USD, GBP, CAD, EUR , AUD BRL and SGD.

[_act_]

Indians can not be happy and also can not be sad about the news, this is because cryptocurrencies are taxed with 30% in the country and also before this news, there have always been a way that indians are converting between cryptocurrencies and Indian rupee, probably through P2P. The government will only look for more ways to collect taxes and this direct deposit and withdrawal can be part of it.

[Hypnotizer]

Indians can not be happy and also can not be sad about the news, this is because cryptocurrencies are taxed with 30% in the country and also before this news, there have always been a way that indians are converting between cryptocurrencies and Indian rupee, probably through P2P. The government will only look for more ways to collect taxes and this direct deposit and withdrawal can be part of it.

Indian government isn’t that friendly to Bitcoin for real, 30% is way too much and I think they placed that just to show they’re really hostile towards Bitcoin and crypto.  So this isn’t much of a big deal/news to the Indians because it would probably attract more taxes from the government as you said.

I remember a particular restaurant that had once accepted bitcoin payment in Indian and I posted about them on the “places you can travel and pay with bitcoin” thread but I think they don’t still operate by accepting bitcoin right now, maybe this hostile environment towards crypto and bitcoin by their government contributed towards this.

But the good thing is despite all these hostility, the country is still ranked among the top when it comes to bitcoin and crypto adoption..

[Fortify]

Good news for the India cryptocurrency society because according to Cointelegraph https://x.com/cointelegraph/status/2061398707191316756?s=46 Coinbase has launched direct INR which is the Indian local currency withdrawal and deposit on their exchange.

This is not just an inclusion of a local currency on an exchange, this is a massive news because on Coinbase the Indian cryptocurrency community can directly withdraw and deposit INR removing many difficulties for the Indian cryptocurrency community.

This good news will increase the grassroot adoption of cryptocurrencies in India. Is this a good news for India or not?

You have to be careful doing any business in India or assuming that because something becomes established that it will stick around for a long time. They encouraged a lot of fantasy prediction type platforms, which looked like they tolerated a form of gambling, for many years before suddenly reversing course and putting a lot of businesses (and consequently the sports teams they sponsored) out of business. If there are pieces of bad news and it looks expedient for a politician to gain some extra votes by redirecting voter frustrations over to you, then it will be done at some point. It really depends how much economic contribution this ends up making the country and whether it can be effectively measured, but I'd guess this is slightly more measured than an economic gamble by Coinbase and they have some sort of high up support for this.

[slapper]

Coinbase registering with FIU-IND is compliance. Compliance is not alignment! They're playing by the rules because they want to run and make money from one of the biggest crypto communities on earth.

Are easier INR deposits beneficial to people? To eliminate P2P friction is real improvement. I'm not going to pretend otherwise because that would be dishonest.

But... "Good news for the India cryptocurrency society", which part of the society though? The 30% tax remains in place. The RBI remains against private cryptocurrencies in an official statement. They're creating a CBDC that is supposed to be doing the polar opposite of what Bitcoin was meant to do. In the same regulatory environment, these things co-exist, and no one seems weird about that?

This is good, conditionally. If the condition is that people do not treat exchange access as step one and destination. Your coins on Coinbase are Coinbase's coins.

Your keys, your wallet, your responsibility. Otherwise, it is a rental.

[MarryWithBTC]

Indians can not be happy and also can not be sad about the news, this is because cryptocurrencies are taxed with 30% in the country and also before this news, there have always been a way that indians are converting between cryptocurrencies and Indian rupee, probably through P2P. The government will only look for more ways to collect taxes and this direct deposit and withdrawal can be part of it.

Whenever you see the government making quick reversal of their early stand, know that they have figured out how to tax the masses. 30% cryptocurrency tax is too much imo. If this is the standing order, just know that Indians might not happy.

I believe that their citizens have also found a way to deal will this task. With this kind of heavy tax, many Indians will be unwilling to join crypto. If i may ask, is this 30% interest on crypto earnings, profits or the whole capital and do they have modalities to differentiate a saved crypto from an earned crypto?

Knowing how to adequately crypto-tax citizens have always been the problem of the governments of different countries.

[tabas]

Indians can not be happy and also can not be sad about the news, this is because cryptocurrencies are taxed with 30% in the country and also before this news, there have always been a way that indians are converting between cryptocurrencies and Indian rupee, probably through P2P. The government will only look for more ways to collect taxes and this direct deposit and withdrawal can be part of it.

Yeah, that 30% tax for the crypto profits and withdrawals made me think of it as soon as I've seen it. But that's good that Coinbase allows this for their Indian users. The tax might be high but I think those who truly are profitable with their trades are not going to stop using platforms like this if it's a big help for them to convert.

I believe that their citizens have also found a way to deal will this task.

The same thoughts, it's a big taxation they're getting there but there must be some ways to at least reduce the burden.

[joniboini]

This good news will increase the grassroot adoption of cryptocurrencies in India.

I'm not sure though. Do they lack exchanges for fiat withdrawal/deposit? Do their existing exchanges lack liquidity? I can imagine existing traders move into Coinbase instead of new traders suddenly become interested on crypto because of this. Unless the existing service is so horrible that it dissuades anyone from trading crypto. Grassroot adoption is also ambiguous. Not sure I'd call people trading crypto on exchange as grassroot.

[Bitcoin Smith]

This good news will increase the grassroot adoption of cryptocurrencies in India.

I'm not sure though. Do they lack exchanges for fiat withdrawal/deposit? Do their existing exchanges lack liquidity? I can imagine existing traders move into Coinbase instead of new traders suddenly become interested on crypto because of this. Unless the existing service is so horrible that it dissuades anyone from trading crypto. Grassroot adoption is also ambiguous. Not sure I'd call people trading crypto on exchange as grassroot.

India has local exchanges that have direct fiat deposit and withdrawal support but they often run into issues because the government and central bank is not really having crypto in the country, so they do everything in their power to make it not easy for crypto users in our country.

And there is Binance and other exchange which don't offer direct fiat support but only through p2p section which then again has too many issues like bank freeze issues due to the account is involved in some kind of scam on layer 7 so all the accounts that came in contact will be frozen.

If Coinbase manages to provide direct INR deposits and withdrawals without any delays, then it can be a game changer for sure no a whole big market.

[rat03gopoh]

India has local exchanges that have direct fiat deposit and withdrawal support but they often run into issues because the government and central bank is not really having crypto in the country, so they do everything in their power to make it not easy for crypto users in our country.

And there is Binance and other exchange which don't offer direct fiat support but only through p2p section which then again has too many issues like bank freeze issues due to the account is involved in some kind of scam on layer 7 so all the accounts that came in contact will be frozen.

And I think using the p2p route only adds to the cost burden. I somewhat understand the OP's situation (if he's an Indian citizen), as the entire system seems chaotic, stealthily taking small amounts of assets, and charging high fees without reliable security. I wouldn't be surprised if one of their local exchanges hacked in the past, had to seek legal protection outside of India. If a non local-based platform like Coinbase were to enter, they could dominate the market in a matter of months.

[Bitcoin Smith]

~
And I think using the p2p route only adds to the cost burden. I somewhat understand the OP's situation (if he's an Indian citizen), as the entire system seems chaotic, stealthily taking small amounts of assets, and charging high fees without reliable security. I wouldn't be surprised if one of their local exchanges hacked in the past, had to seek legal protection outside of India. If a non local-based platform like Coinbase were to enter, they could dominate the market in a matter of months.

P2p is expensive, people are paying like 3-5% on top of the current market price and it can goes a lot higher for non-banking payment modes such as cash deposit. But that is okay though since people easily evade the 30% tax rate on gains cause the tax tracking is suck here.

And I don't think OP is from India but we already have a thread about this in our local board, Coinbase India Relaunch

A few exchanges have been hacked but the major of all is Wazirx, which used to be the most popular Indian exchange and they were also in tie up with Binance but after the hack Binance claimed it is not part of them or something like that, since then people lost trust on Indian exchange and they only use because it offers direct INR support, which isn't offered by Binance even though they are FIU compliant.

[rat03gopoh]

P2p is expensive, people are paying like 3-5% on top of the current market price and it can goes a lot higher for non-banking payment modes such as cash deposit. But that is okay though since people easily evade the 30% tax rate on gains cause the tax tracking is suck here.

3% to 30% difference is significant enough to "save" money. More dedicated P2P exchanges should be offered there. Even a 1.5% fee would be advantageous if they want to compete with the existing P2P market, considering it's one of the most populous countries that likely wants to save money in the same way. hahaa

[Bitcoin Smith]

P2p is expensive, people are paying like 3-5% on top of the current market price and it can goes a lot higher for non-banking payment modes such as cash deposit. But that is okay though since people easily evade the 30% tax rate on gains cause the tax tracking is suck here.

3% to 30% difference is significant enough to "save" money. More dedicated P2P exchanges should be offered there. Even a 1.5% fee would be advantageous if they want to compete with the existing P2P market, considering it's one of the most populous countries that likely wants to save money in the same way. hahaa

P2P got it's own issues and I am sure most of them don't want to use p2p exchanges even with that 30% tax rate, except that cryptos bought in Indian based exchanges can't be withdrawn to our wallet addresses, it can only be sold in the same exchange. It sounds stupid but that is also the scenario in most of the Indian based exchanges.

And as I said bank freeze is much bigger issues where users will lose their entire bank account with all the balance in it.