Major payment options are no longer available on Indian exchanges.
Depositing Indian rupees at cryptocurrency exchanges is becoming increasingly difficult. A growing number of cryptocurrency exchanges have disabled INR deposits via the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system, the most popular retail payment method.
Wazirx, a cryptocurrency exchange, does not support UPI. “Currently, UPI is not available,” the exchange tweeted on Wednesday. Coindcx also does not accept UPI payments, stating on Twitter on Monday, “UPI is temporarily unavailable.”
Coinswitch Kuber went even further, allegedly suspending all INR deposit services, including UPI and bank transfers via NEFT, RTGS, and IMPS, on Wednesday. With over 15 million users, Coinswitch is a major cryptocurrency trading platform in India.
Coinbase, a Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange that recently launched in India, has disabled crypto purchases “due to an ongoing issue with the UPI system.” “Note that we do not support another payment method to buy crypto at this time,” the exchange added.
After the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) stated that it is not aware of any cryptocurrency exchanges using the UPI system, cryptocurrency exchanges stopped supporting UPI payments. The NPCI statement came after Coinbase launched in India and advertised that users could easily deposit funds to buy cryptocurrencies using UPI.
According to a source close to the situation, the NPCI was caught between a rock and a hard place when Coinbase claimed to launch with UPI support. “Once Coinbase launched in India and announced the use of UPI as a payment option, NPCI realized it needed to issue a clarification,” the person explained.
Mobikwik, a popular payment service, also stopped serving crypto exchanges earlier this month.
Meanwhile, crypto trading volumes in India have plummeted since April 1, when a 30% tax on crypto income went into effect without any loss offsets or deductions. On July 1, another harmful tax, a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS), will be levied on crypto transactions.
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