Cryptocurrency platform Coinbase has started including support for payments instruments Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and immediate payment service (IMPS) in India. The improvement will see the crypto platform unlock its full capabilities in India – the world’s biggest internet market.
On Thursday, Indian users began to notice that Coinbase has added the new payments methods onto its platform even though details of the rollout are still quite a mystery.
Digital payment options make payments easier and more convenient. In India, for instance, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is one of the most convenient methods used to complete online transactions.
Although Coinbase is yet to provide details on the new development, it acknowledged the changes to its platform via a support page that has since been deleted.
Indian banks have long been avoiding associating with crypto firms amid pressure from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). For now, it is not clear the number of banks that the crypto exchange platform has partnered with within India for its UPI and IMPS payments.
Coinbase has been in the world’s second-largest internet market for years but has been unable to unlock its full potential because it did not support any payment method. This hindered the platform from catching on to Indian users like it shouldn’t have if payments were supported. Coinbase has, however, been making investments in India. It is a backer for CoinSwitch and CoinDCX – two of India’s most popular cryptocurrency platforms as well as Router Protocol, a cross-chain infrastructure startup. Last year, it acquired Agara, an Indian AI-powered customer support platform.
Before adding UPI and IMPS support, Coinbase has been covertly expanding its Indian team. It hired Pankaj Gupta, a former Google Pay executive.
Coinbase is planning to have an event that’ll focus on India on the 7th of April and many executives including its CEO Brian Armstrong and Chief Product Officer Surojit Chatterjee have been confirmed as speakers.
Ibhadojemu Lucky Emmanuel is a graduate of Education and Economics from the University of Benin. He has a passion for tech and business and has been writing professionally for over a period of five years. He's written across various topics and segments and knew tech-business was it when he first stumbled on it. He has a great passion for music and arts, and wants to visit as many countries as he can someday.
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