After listing on Nasdaq, coinbase launched a crypto asset trading service of the same name in India last month. With the company's application, customers can use UPI to purchase encrypted tokens However, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday that under "informal pressure" from the Reserve Bank of India, the exchange was forced to stop its cryptocurrency trading service in the world's second-largest Internet market
It is reported that UPI is a popular payment infrastructure jointly launched by the retail banking alliance. However, to the surprise of many people, coinbase withdrew its encrypted asset trading service in India without explanation three days after its launch.
Earlier, the national payment Corporation of India (hereinafter referred to as npci) issued a strange statement. As the regulator of the country's unified payment interface (UPI), it refused to recognize support for coinbase applications.
Brian Armstrong, co-founder and CEO of coinbase, gave a detailed explanation on the matter at the earnings conference call on Tuesday night - it was finally forced to disable UPI under "informal pressure" from the Bank of India (RBI).
He pointed out that cryptocurrency trading is not illegal in India. In fact, the South Asian country has only recently begun to tax it.
However, local authorities, including the Reserve Bank of India, do not seem to have a positive attitude towards this area.
That's why the media called it a "shadow ban" - meaning that the Indian government has exerted soft pressure behind the scenes.
By putting pressure on some Payment institutions that may need to go through UPI, the relevant departments can also achieve their goals.
Even so, Brian Armstrong accused the behavior of the Central Bank of India, which may have a substantive conflict with the view of the Supreme Court of India.
It is unclear whether coinbase will go to court with RBI, but the company's executives obviously tend to resolve the contradiction through lobbying. After all, they still have many alternative payment schemes to restart the business.