Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN)has launched its investing platform in India.
India is a massive market of around 1.48 billion individuals. Yet only around 9.5% of the market invests in securities.
Regarding crypto, estimates range from 90 to 127 million investors trade. These are mostly a younger demographic.
In total, between 150 and 180 million people invest in crypto or securities (or both). Investor growth has rocketed over the past six years, up 4X.
The opportunity is vast for a global platform like Coinbase to provide direct access to both crypto and the global securities marketplace, including commodities and ETFs.
In a post on X, Coinbase stated:
“Coinbase is now live in India with direct INR rails. Users across India can now seamlessly access global liquidity and institutional-grade execution at the lowest total cost of trading in the market.”
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong noted that India is the number-one market globally by user count.
While being compliant with Indian law, the company added that crypto and NFTs remain unregulated.
Coinbase said that while supporting Indian retail trading, Coinbase Advance offers professional tools for larger traders.
Tokenized shares in India remain experimental, but legislation is in the works to establish a framework for the legal recognition of digital securities, including issuance, trading, custody, settlement, and investor protection.
Coinbase currently operates in around 115 countries, offering access to digital assets in line with local regulations. While traditional shares are currently only available in the US, Coinbase offers access to stock perpetual futures for leveraged exposure to stocks like Apple and Tesla, though users do not own the underlying shares. Fully tokenized shares available globally are in the platform’s queue.