Brian Armstrong: Pressure from the Reserve Bank of India hinders the work of Coinbase

The CEO of Coinbase, the largest US crypto exchange, accused the Indian central bank of failing to provide payment services to the exchange.

In April, Coinbase was forced to suspend service to users in India, just days after launching the exchange in that country. In accordance with the work regulations, Coinbase invited Indian clients to use the national payment system United Payments Interface (UPI) to place orders on the exchange. However, almost immediately, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which manages UPI, stated that it does not recognize the legality of any cryptocurrency exchanges using this payment system.

Since NPCI is a division of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong opined that the failure of the exchange was due to “informal pressure” from the RBI.

“A few days after the launch, we shut down UPI due to informal pressure from the RBI, which acted as a kind of equivalent to the treasury,” – said
Armstrong.

Armstrong recalled that in 2020, the Supreme Court of India overturned the RBI directive that banned the use of cryptocurrencies, but apparently not all government authorities share this point of view.

“We have concerns that some people in government, including at the RBI, may actually be violating the Supreme Court’s decision,” Brian Armstrong said.

In February 2022, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, speaking at a budget session, announced that India could issue a state-owned cryptocurrency by the end of this year or early next.