Digital asset firm CoinSwitch is getting ready to introduce a stock trading platform, so that it can meaningfully compete in a market which includes Groww and Upstox, among other service providers in India.
According to an update shared by the ET, CoinSwitch intends to submit an application to serve as a stockbroker with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The Fintech firm is also reportedly discussing business-related initiatives with local non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and banking institutions in order to provide fixed deposits.
The digital currency trading platform also shared its plans to provide traditional investment products like mutual funds, US stocks in order diversify services. This move may help with maintaining stable operations given the struggles and challenges faced by the global crypto sector.
Although the Bitcoin, Ethereum price has increased and somewhat stabilized in the past few months, the nascent market is still not worth even half of what it was back in November 2021.
Other large cryptos have also shed billions in market cap during these challenging times.
Notably, India’s aggressive crypto regulations and hostile stance towards the industry have also contributed to the digital asset trading platforms’ challenges. This has motivated them to branch out into more Fintech-focused products.
As reported by local sources, the Indian government’s recent increase in tax collected at source (TCS) on foreign remittances as part of the Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS) has led to service providers offering US stocks starting to move away from the same (which includes CoinSwitch).
Ashish Singhal, CEO at CoinSwitch, has said that the digital asset platform intends to provide Wealthtech services, with various products currently under development.
Singhal also mentioned that they intend to grow alongside them by providing a wide range of asset classes such as fixed deposits, mutual funds, and other financial instruments.
He further revealed that they’re planning to unveil these products towards the end of this financial year.
This recent update regarding a stock trading service has been announced around nine months following the introduction of CoinSwitch Pro, a multi-exchange trading platform which enables clients to trade digital assets in INR across various exchanges via a common interface.
As reported by Inc42, CoinSwitch now aims to establish operations in a competitive sector with many innovative startups.
Larger Fintechs such as Paytm and PhonePe are also providing stock trading services on their respective platforms as well, making the market even more challenging to penetrate.
Established back in 2017 by Ashish Singhal, Govind Soni and Vimal Sagar Tiwari, CoinSwitch, an Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Coinbase Ventures-supporter initiative, is an international aggregator of virtual currency trading platforms.
The Fintech firm has secured almost $300 million in capital, with its most recent investment round being its $260 million Series C, which was finalized back in October of 2021.
