India Crypto Exchanges Restrict Rupee Deposits to Buy Crypto

Indian cryptocurrency exchanges CoinSwitch Kuber and WazirX have banned users from making Rupee deposits to buy cryptocurrencies, Reuters reported.

This is a decision that stems from regulatory uncertainty. Last week the National Payments Corporation of India, the operator of the government-backed United Payments Interface (UPI), said it was unaware of crypto exchanges using its UPI which is a widely-used state-backed transfer network used for simplifying transfers between banks.

CoinSwitch Kuber enjoys 15 million users, and currently allows users to withdraw corresponding rupee funds but does not support depositing rupees on its platform.

While platform users have urged the exchange to let its users know how long it will be closed, rival exchange WazirX said it did not estimate a time limit for resolving the issue.

India’s parliament announced that it passed the Finance Bill 2022, which has introduced taxation on digital assets including cryptocurrencies, effective on April 1

According to Abhishek Malhotra, Founding Partner of TMT Law Practice

“Regulatory clarity is the need of the hour. There are currently a lot of conflicting signals on the regulatory regime, leading to lack of certainty.”

Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the U.S., announced Thursday that its trading services are now available to users in India. The publicly listed firm said that it is working to widen its product offerings in the country.

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