United States’ leading Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase on Thursday, 25 March announced that it is opening its business in India and hiring the local talent .
This news has come amid the speculations over Indian government banning all crypto forms.
According to a report by Reuters, anonymous government sources informed that Indian government is preparing a Bill that would criminalise the “possession, issuance, mining, trading and transferring crypto-assets.”
Breaking the big news on a blog post, the company said, “India has long been known as a hub for engineering and technology innovation, and we look forward to finding that world-class talent to help the Coinbase group develop new ways for our customers to interact with the crypto economy”.
The company also said that it will open a physical office, initially in Hyderabad, for Indian employees.
What Is Coinbase?
Coinbase is a online platform where users can buy, sell, transfer, and store digital currency such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The company was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam and is currently the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States by trading volume.
According to Investopedia, Coinbase offers trading of more than 25 cryptocurrencies for investment, trading and staking purposes. The platform is popular for its easy simple user interface.
What Does It Mean for India?
The move to open business in the country hints that India is an emerging field in the crypto space.
Ranking number one in United States, this means that competition will increase for other crypto exchanges in the country such as WazirX, buyUcoins, CoinDCX, Bitbns, ZebPay and many others.
Sharing his thoughts on this, Gaurav Dahake, CEO, Bitbns crypto exchange told The Quint, “The news of Coinbase setting business in India tells us that cryptocurrencies definitely have future in India”.
“The competition for other crypto exchanges will increase as well. However,the impact will be positive because the number of users that Coinbase will introduce in the blockchain market will be beneficial for all Indian crypto exchanges,” he added.
Speaking about the rising speculations of Crypto ban in India he said, “We don't see an outright ban on cryptocurrencies as of now. The ministry officials are taking a Judicious approach to create a in inclusive regulatory framework”.
“With the recent global developments the Indian government is of the opinion that a unilateral view of restricting it is not going to help considering India is at the forefront of the Fintech Ecosytem. The industry is optimistic with the stance taken and would love to initiate dialogue with the government to resolve any issues”Gaurav Dahake, CEO, Bitbns crypto exchange
Top Competitors for Coinbase in India
Coinbase is all set to setup its business in India. However, these players dominate the crypto market in India:
- WazirX: A Mumbai based crypto exchange that was launched in 2017. It is currently acquired by Binance holdings, which is reportedly world’s largest crypto exchange in terms of trading volume.
- Bitbns: This crypto exchange company is widely popular in India because it charges lowest trading fee.
- Coin DCX: It has simple and user friendly platform interface and a wide variety of over 200+ coins with high liquidity.
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