Crypto exchange Coinbase has reportedly extended the deadline for Indian users to close their accounts and withdraw any funds in them to October 31.
The earlier deadline was September 25.
The development comes nearly a month after the crypto exchange decided to discontinue its services in the country.
“We have extended the timeline for closure of your above-mentioned Coinbase account to 31 October 2023 so that you are able to withdraw any funds, held in your account, by such date,” Moneycontrol cited Coinbase as saying in an email sent to its users.
The crypto major noted that users can send their funds to other crypto wallets or services, including Coinbase Wallet.
While initially it looked like Coinbase was going to exit the Indian market, it said in the email that it remains committed to the Indian market in the long term. “We are committed to India over the long term and continue to explore ways to strengthen our presence in this important market,” the crypto exchange said.
Earlier, the company earlier said it was discontinuing all services to accounts that ‘no longer meet their updated standards’. As such, it seems that the crypto exchange will be shutting down hundreds of Indian accounts.
However, while it’s not an exit, Coinbase has suspended crypto trading in India, as the regulatory framework continues to be hostile for cryptocurrency in the country.
Coinbase launched in India in April 2022 with an option to buy crypto using UPI. A few days later, the crypto exchange shut the UPI service amid pressure from regulators.
The move comes as many Indian crypto exchanges have come under fire as taxation on gains made on crypto and TDS on crypto transactions came into effect last year.
Despite that, India clinched top spot in crypto adoption, according to a recent report by Chainalysis.
India ranked first in four of the five sub-categories considered for the 2023 index. These categories included centralised service value received, retail centralised service value received, DeFi value received, and retail DeFi value received.
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