Crypto exchange Coinstore enters India ahead of government's pending regulations

Despite the government explicitly mentioning that cryptocurrencies will be curbed in the country, Coinstore, a Singapore-headquartered cryptocurrency exchange has officially announced its launch in India.

Coinstore, which began operations in February this year, has launched its web and application platform, with the company stating that it plans to open branches in Bengaluru, New Delhi and Mumbai. These locations will act as a base for future expansions, according to a Reuters report.

Charles Tan, head of marketing at Coinstore told Reuters that nearly a quarter of Coinstore’s active users come from India. It made sense for us to expand into the market.  

"There have been policy flip-flops but we hope things are going to be positive and we are optimistic that the Indian government will come out with a healthy framework for cryptocurrencies,” Tan said.   

The government is expected to introduce ‘The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021’ in the winter session of the Parliament beginning today.  

This is not the first curb that the government putting on the cryptos, in April 2018, a circular by the Reserve Bank of India stated that “Entities regulated by the Reserve Bank shall not deal in virtual currencies or provide services for facilitating any person or entity in dealing with or settling cryptocurrencies.”  

Also read: Cryptocurrency regulation in India: Ban, bill and everything that's happened so far

However, in a notification on Lok Sabha website on November 23, the government said that it will only allow certain cryptocurrencies so as to promote the underlying technology that it uses, this, according to a legislative agenda made public before the winter session.   

Many industry players are confident that the government would provide some leeway in the future.  

Digital payments company PayTm’s founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said in an online event last week that cryptocurrencies are here to stay, and its technology will go mainstream in a few years.