NPCI says unaware of exchanges offering UPI as an option for buying crypto but some already do

On Thursday, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) released a statement saying they are not aware of any crypto exchanges operating in India that allow users to use its Unified Payments Interface or UPI to buy cryptocurrencies.

"With reference to some recent media reports around the purchase of Cryptocurrencies using UPI, National Payments Corporation of India would like to clarify that we are not aware of any crypto exchange using UPI," the statement said.

Also Read: Coinbase announces full scale crypto trading in India

But Business Today found out that at least four crypto exchanges operating in India -- Unocoin, CoinDCX, CoinSwitch Kuber, and Coinbase -- allow their users to buy cryptocurrencies via UPI, whereas WazirX has recently discontinued the feature.

"Presently there are few payment processors who are already providing UPI access and it continues to work. We do provide an option for our users to buy using deposits done through UPI," Sathvik Vishwanath, founder, and CEO of Unocoin crypto exchange told Business Today.

Mridul Gupta, COO of CoinDCX cryptocurrency exchange told BT that "CoinDCX has a robust UPI based payment capabilities already developed for its users." This was also independently verified by BT.

At an event organized in Bengaluru on Thursday, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced that its trading platform would be available for retail traders in India and that its customers will be able to purchase cryptos through the exchange by using UPI.

Also Read: Coinbase to hire dedicated team for M&A and investments in India

Recently, some crypto investors took to Twitter to discuss their experience of buying cryptocurrencies via UPI on the Coinbase platform.

Another user shared a screenshot of all the ways one can buy crypto on the platform, one of which is UPI.

CoinSwitch Kuber too had the UPI option available on their app, as verified by BT. But when the team tried to add money to the CoinSwitch Kuber wallet via UPI, the function failed.

Comments from various other crypto exchanges operating in India were also sought to confirm the same. A request has also been sent to NPCI seeking a comment on whether they are unaware of the fact that at least four exchanges operating in India allow UPI payments for cryptocurrencies. The story will be updated if and when they respond.