Coinbase announced direct deposit and withdrawal via the Indian banking rails for retail investors in India. The move will enable investors in India to buy and sell cryptocurrencies without the need for peer-to-peer transactions or intermediaries that were frequently used in the past to transfer funds into and out of cryptocurrency exchanges.
Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) is the new feature that allows Indian customers to add and withdraw rupees. This allows users to deposit funds into their Coinbase accounts directly from their bank accounts, trade cryptocurrencies, and withdraw funds as needed.
It also introduces spot trading for various crypto assets, perpetual futures, and other features. To address the market's need for localized liquidity without compromising access to the global exchange, Coinbase has also launched local order books in the Indian currency, the Rupee.
Additionally, Indian users will be able to access Coinbase Advanced, a professional-grade trading tool for traders. These include APIs that meet institutional standards, order book streaming, various types of orders, and TradingView integration for charting.
This is to support discretionary traders or high-volume users who require enhanced execution, the platform said. Coinbase also announced that there will be a zero deposit fee for INR users.
“Beyond headline fees, execution quality matters, particularly for higher-volume traders. Deep global liquidity tends to mean tighter spreads and lower slippage compared to thinner local order books, which affects total cost of trading in ways that aren't always visible upfront,” the company said.
The launch is a notable milestone in Coinbase's India expansion plans. Coinbase says that it invested in the Indian ecosystem in the last few years, such as supporting crypto exchange CoinDCX, one of India's key players.
Ethereum Layer-2 network Base has seen Coinbase make more than $1 million in investments into India's builder community with hackathons, grants and fellowships. Over 4,000 Indian builders have built on Base and over 150 projects have developed into real startups.
“Today, we're taking the next step: making Coinbase fully accessible to Indian retail traders with direct INR support,” John O'Loghlen, Regional Managing Director APAC and Country Director Australia at Coinbase, said in a company blog post.
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Coinbase stated that it's registered with India's Financial Intelligence Unit or FIU-IND and adheres to Indian tax laws, such as TDS provisions for transactions involving virtual digital assets (VDAs).
“We registered with FIU-IND and comply with all Indian taxation law requirements, because we're here for the long term,” the company said.
INR support will now be launched to existing Coinbase customers and will be available for new customers who sign up on Coinbase when it arrives.