As the government is in full swing to regulate cryptocurrencies and virtual digital asset, crypto exchange platform CoinSwitch Kuber has temporarily suspended all modes of payments to purchase digital coins, including bank transfers, on its platform. Users in India are unable to make Indian rupee, or INR deposits on its app as of Tuesday morning. This has been also disabled through all modes of transfer, including UPI and bank transfer through NEFT, RTGS, IMPS etc.
CoinSwitch Kuber’s shocking move has left the platform effectively non-working, leaving users with no option to load their crypto wallets to buy cryptocurrencies. This has resulted in a significant impact on the millions users of CoinSwitch platform, which will in turn affect the platform’s trading volumes. The company, just a day ago, had enabled payment via UPI even after the National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI) that it does not recognise crypto exchanges using UPI. Users were able to transact on CoinSwitch Kuber using various UPI apps, including PhonePe, Paytm, Google Pay and NPCI’s BHIM app.
CoinSwitch has not responded to queries or issued an official statement yet. Several users have sought the company’s response on Twitter, asking what was the issue, but there is no clarity yet.
Cryptocurrency exchanges in India have been affected since April 1, the day from which the government said it will levy a 30 per cent taxation on gains from cryptocurrencies and other virtual digital assets. This was part of the government’s plan to control unregulated currencies in India to prevent fraud, after the Reserve Bank of India flagged impending impact on the country’s macroeconomy.
According to reports, the trading volumes on major crypto exchange platforms have seen steep declines amid uncertain crypto regulations in India. Payment method options on these exchanges, like ZebPay, WazirX and Giottus have been also in the decline as there is not clarity on how the new proposed Finance Bill will regulate cryptocurrencies in India. As per Moneycontrol, Mobikwik, which was the only wallet across multiple platforms, has also withdrawn its services starting from the beginning of this month.
CoinSwitch’s move comes two days after US crypto trading platform Coinbase stopped accepting payments done through Unified Payment Interface, or UPI, in India while buying cryptocurrencies. “Purchases with this payment method are temporarily unavailable,” read a disclaimer at the Coinbase mobile app on Sunday.
However, this did not go well with the NPCI, which shortly after the launch, issued a clarification in which they said that “we are not aware of any crypto exchange using UPI”.
Shortly after the clarification issued by NPCI, Coinbase put out its own statement saying, “We are aware of the recent statement published by NPCI regarding the use of UPI by cryptocurrency exchanges. We are committed to working with NPCI and other relevant authorities to ensure we are aligned with local expectations and industry norms.”
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