Global cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has launched direct Indian Rupee (INR) rails for users in India following approval from one of the country's main financial regulators.

 

 

With the launch of the INR rails, Indian users can now directly deposit and withdraw Indian Rupees on Coinbase using the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) from their Indian bank accounts, without relying on peer to peer rails or intermediaries.

 

Using Indian Rupees, customers will be able to access spot trading across a range of assets, alongside perpetual futures contracts covering major crypto assets.

 

“We have built local INR order books that provide dedicated liquidity for Indian customers, while maintaining continued access to our global exchange,” John O'Loghlen, Coinbase's Regional Managing Director for APAC, wrote in a blog post.

 

Coinbase has also rolled out advanced features for users seeking additional functionality, including professional grade trading tools, built in institutional grade APIs, WebSocket order book streaming, and an integrated TradingView charting tool that allows traders to analyse price movements, trends, and technical indicators.

 

Coinbase Deepens Its Presence in India

With this expansion, Coinbase aims to continue contributing meaningfully to India’s growing crypto ecosystem. It is one of the leading investors in CoinDCX, India’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, which currently serves over 22 million users.

 

Through Base, its Ethereum layer two network, Coinbase has contributed over 1 million dollars to the Indian builder community through hackathons, direct grants, and fellowships, with more than 4,000 builders in India already building on Base and 150 of these projects growing into real startups.

 

To demonstrate its commitment to the growth of the Indian crypto ecosystem and reaffirm its long term presence in India, Coinbase says its latest rollout complies with the Financial Intelligence Unit India regulatory framework and other taxation laws.

 

As a result, Indian users can deposit Indian rupees directly from their bank accounts onto the exchange, trade in both spot and futures markets, and withdraw their funds back to their bank accounts whenever they choose, without any additional steps or workarounds.

 

Coinbase’s expansion in India comes shortly after the exchange received approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the CFTC, to offer offshore crypto perpetuals and options to users in the United States.

 

Coinbase also recently partnered with Flipcash, a digital payments app, to launch the app’s first stablecoin using its custom stablecoin platform.

 

 

Cryptocurrency exchange OKX has launched Exchange OS, a major protocol upgrade built on X Layer, its EVM-compatible Layer 2 network, allowing developers, institutions, and ecosystem participants to create spot, perpetual, and outcome markets.

 

 

Exchange OS is designed to address fragmented infrastructure, one of the biggest obstacles limiting the expansion and adoption of on-chain finance.

 

“While blockchain enabled open asset issuance, the infrastructure for trading, settlement, margining, and liquidity remains siloed across disconnected venues and applications,” Star Xu wrote in a blog post. “Builders still face the same tradeoff: rely on centralized infrastructure or rebuild complex exchange systems from scratch,” he added.

 

By launching Exchange OS, OKX aims to create a shared market infrastructure that enables developers and institutions to launch new trading experiences efficiently while maintaining flexibility in core areas, including risk controls, compliance, market structure, and frontend design.

 

Exchange OS moves core exchange functions, including matching, margining, liquidation, settlement, and risk management, to the protocol layer of X Layer, creating a shared execution environment that allows developers to build different types of markets within a single environment.

 

Using the configurable components of Exchange OS infrastructure, developers and institutions can create trading venues, or marketplaces where trading takes place. As a result, Exchange OS enables developers to build customized trading platforms.

 

With Exchange OS, users can deploy trading venues permissionlessly via the X Layer Improvement Proposal for Exchange OS (XIP Exchange OS), choosing their own assets, oracle systems, revenue models, and compliance frameworks without requiring approval from a centralized entity. Regulated institutions can also launch fully KYC-compliant trading platforms.

 

Exchange OS also serves traders by enabling a unified account and margin system across spot, perpetual, and outcome markets, allowing capital to move seamlessly between markets rather than being trapped across fragmented platforms.

 

OKX to Debut Trading Venue on Exchange OS

To demonstrate its commitment to the newly launched Exchange OS platform, OKX will launch the first trading venue on Exchange OS.

 

“In June, we will launch the 2026 World Cup Outcomes, a simulated outcome market deployed directly on the infrastructure. We wanted to build on the system ourselves before opening it more broadly because the best way to demonstrate open market infrastructure is to use it in production first,” OKX said in a blog post.

 

 

Foris DAX Middle East FZE, the UAE entity of the cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com, has received the Stored Value Facilities (SVF) license from the Central Bank of the UAE.

 

The announcement, made on Monday, marks a notable milestone for the crypto exchange, as it is the first Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) in the Emirates to receive the license.

 

 

With the Stored Value Facilities license now secured, Crypto.com can partner with the Dubai Department of Finance, allowing UAE residents to pay government fees with virtual assets, with all transactions settled in UAE dirhams or other stablecoins approved by the UAE central bank.

 

As the only virtual asset provider holding the SVF license in the Emirates, any other entity seeking to offer virtual asset payment services in the region will first need to be onboarded by Crypto.com.

 

“To be the first VASP to receive this license is an incredible achievement and proves our strong commitment to compliance and to advancing the regulated digital assets ecosystem in the UAE,” said Eric Anziani, President and COO of Crypto.com.

 

“We are continuing to expand our presence in this forward-thinking, digitally savvy market and remain committed to offering innovative products and services that are convenient and seamless for digital asset holders,” he added.

 

The new SVF license comes about a year after Crypto.com received a full VASP license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), allowing it to offer crypto derivatives products, including futures, perpetual swap contracts, and contracts for difference (CFDs).

 

Derivatives trading continues to grow, accounting for about 70-75% of total crypto trading volume. In 2025, global crypto derivatives trading volume reached approximately $85.7 trillion, with analysts projecting the market to continue expanding significantly.

 

The State of Crypto in the United Arab Emirates

The UAE, over the last few years, has emerged as one of the foremost crypto jurisdictions. According to the World Crypto Rankings 2025 report by Bybit and DL Research, the UAE leads the entire Middle East and North Africa region in crypto adoption, ranking fifth globally behind Singapore, the United States, Lithuania, and Switzerland.

 

To position itself as a major crypto hub, the UAE has introduced several crypto-friendly policies, including exemptions from VAT and personal income tax on virtual assets and crypto trading. 

 

The country has also passed legislation that brings all virtual asset entities, including DeFi protocols, stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, decentralized exchanges, wallets, bridges, and supporting blockchain infrastructure, under the authority of the Central Bank. The move effectively gives the digital asset ecosystem a recognized legal framework under federal law.