Coinbase INR withdrawals in India have been unavailable since Nov. 9, and the exchange still has no date for a fix. Coinbase India said on Saturday that the problem sits with an unnamed banking partner whose payouts are failing “for all of its clients, not just Coinbase.” For users who have linked a bank account, the outage closes the only exit Coinbase allows them, because the exchange’s own India rules permanently block those accounts from sending crypto off the platform.
What Coinbase said
“INR withdrawals are temporarily unavailable due to an outage at our banking partner,” Coinbase India said. It told customers “Your funds are safe,” said rupee deposits, including UPI, and bank account linking were “working as usual,” and said its team was working with the bank “around the clock to restore withdrawals as soon as possible.” The statement did not name the bank or give a timeline.
The outage is older than Saturday’s post suggests. Coinbase’s status page opened an incident on Nov. 9 warning that customers in India might be unable to withdraw rupees, link new bank accounts or use UPI, or could see deposit delays. About 17 hours later Coinbase narrowed the problem to withdrawals and asked customers not to start new ones, warning that “any withdrawal started during this period may fail or remain pending until the issue is resolved.” As of Saturday that was still the latest entry on the incident, with its status at “Identified.”
Why bank-linked users are stuck
For most exchanges, a fiat outage is an inconvenience: customers can still move coins to another platform or a self-custody wallet. Coinbase’s Indian customers who use rupee rails cannot. A Coinbase help page says that, “to comply with local banking requirements,” adding a bank account “permanently disables the ability to send crypto” from a Coinbase account, including to other customers, wallets or exchanges. The restriction “can’t be reversed, even if the bank account is later removed.”
That leaves those customers able to trade and to receive crypto, but with no route to take money or coins off the exchange until the bank’s payouts resume. Users replying to Coinbase India’s post asked for crypto transfers to be switched on as a stopgap, crypto.news reported. Coinbase’s statement offered no such arrangement.
Deposits are a separate issue. Coinbase is still accepting rupees, including through UPI, while the way back out is closed. Its India payment methods guide lists IMPS, NEFT and RTGS as both deposit and withdrawal rails in India, with IMPS capped at ₹5 lakh per transaction. UPI is listed for deposits only, up to ₹1 lakh per day. The outage notice covers rupee withdrawals as a whole rather than a single rail.
Five months after the rupee launch
Direct rupee banking is new for Coinbase in India. The exchange went live with rupee transfers at the start of June, pitching IMPS deposits and withdrawals as a way to avoid peer-to-peer markets and intermediaries. “The full flow is straightforward,” its launch post said at the time, describing deposits from a bank account, trading and withdrawals “back to your bank when you’re ready.”
A single banking partner handling payouts is a familiar weak point for Indian crypto platforms, where bank relationships have long been hard to secure. The outage also lands in a rough week for the country’s exchanges. Bengaluru-based Unocoin had already paused crypto withdrawals before disclosing a server breach, though its problem was a security incident rather than a bank failure.
Coinbase has not said whether withdrawal requests made before the warning on Nov. 9 have been processed, how many customers are affected, or whether it is lining up a second bank. It has also not said whether it would make any exception to the crypto-send restriction during the outage.
What to watch
The next signal will come from the status page or Coinbase India’s account, which the company said is where updates will appear. Two questions matter most for affected users: when the bank’s payouts restart, and whether pending withdrawals go through or are returned to Coinbase balances. Customers who have not linked a bank account are not subject to the send restriction.
FAQ
Can Coinbase users in India withdraw rupees right now?
No. Rupee withdrawals have been unavailable since Nov. 9 because of an outage at Coinbase’s banking partner, and the exchange has given no restoration date.
Can bank-linked users move their crypto to another exchange instead?
No. Coinbase’s India help page says adding a bank account permanently disables sending crypto from the account, even if the bank account is later removed. Trading and receiving crypto still work.
Are deposits still working?
Yes. Coinbase said rupee deposits, including UPI, and bank account linking are working normally. It has asked customers not to start new withdrawals until the issue is fixed.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
