Singapore-based crypto exchange, Coinstore, has announced that it would be opening up a branch in India to serve the needs of its existing customers and also look to expand its operations within the country.
The surprising part of the announcement is the timing as the Indian Parliament is set to take up the crypto bill which is likely to set up a framework for the introduction of a CBDC but more importantly, looks to be set to ban some of what it calls as ‘private’ crypto. This had sent shockwaves within the crypto industry in India with prices falling by over 20% within 24 hours but with the details of the Bill still unknown and sketchy, the market has bounced back in the hope that it would not be a blanket ban on all cryptocurrencies but only on specific ones though it is not clear what would be the criteria for such a ban. Other crypto exchanges are also looking to enter the country in the coming months.
But all these would depend on what sort of law would be passed in the country and how different it would be when compared to that in China which is the other big market for crypto in Asia. If the country seeks to regulate and not ban the crypto industry in total, then it is quite possible that the country could see an influx of many new crypto businesses which would not only be useful for the crypto enthusiasts but also for the government as well as these [platforms are likely to yield tax to the country. India is supposed to have one of the largest crypto user bases in the world and hence it is quite likely that many people and platforms would be looking forward to the regulations that the authorities would be bringing in during the coming months.
The new exchanges and crypto companies would also be looking to invest in infrastructure and also into new technologies which are likely to help the region but it all depends on what kind of view the regulators in India take of the crypto industry and whether they view it as a competition to their own CBDC and a source of illegal financial transactions.
