Coinbase opens INR rails in India, adds perpetual futures

Coinbase has opened direct Indian rupee rails through the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), allowing users in India to deposit and withdraw rupees from local bank accounts without peer-to-peer channels or intermediaries. The exchange also opened INR-denominated order books and made perpetual futures and the Coinbase Advanced trading suite available to customers in the country.

Retail users can move rupees on and off the platform via IMPS, a fast interbank transfer system used across India. The INR order books will run on native liquidity for rupee trades rather than routing orders through foreign-currency pairs or third-party on-ramps. Spot trading in rupees will be available alongside perpetual futures contracts for major crypto assets.

Coinbase Advanced is now offered in India to provide active traders and institutional clients with institutional-grade application programming interfaces and WebSocket order book streaming. The exchange said the tools are intended to support higher-frequency and algorithmic trading and to provide deeper market access.

The launch follows Coinbase’s registration with the Financial Intelligence Unit of India (FIU-IND), the agency that oversees anti-money-laundering compliance. John O’Loghlen, head of APAC at Coinbase, noted that India is an important market for developer talent, trading activity and blockchain adoption, and said the company plans to maintain a long-term presence.

Coinbase reentered India’s consumer market in December 2025 when it reopened its app and resumed onboarding after more than two years away. The company has taken a stake in Indian exchange CoinDCX and said it has invested more than $1 million in the local developer community through Base, its Ethereum Layer 2 network. The exchange reported that more than 4,000 builders in India have launched projects on Base and that about 150 of those projects have grown into startups.

Coinbase’s Nasdaq-listed shares closed up 3.72% at $189.03 on Friday, though the stock has fallen about 30.7% over the past six months. The exchange said the INR rails and dedicated order books are designed to reduce frictions for Indian customers and to provide clearer on-ramps for rupee-denominated trading and derivatives contracts.