Reports say MobiKwik down on crypto exchanges after NPCI statement; we find otherwise

Fintech giant MobiKwik has suspended its UPI services for all cryptocurrency exchanges operating in India. Interestingly, many media reports suggested that this development followed NPCI's statement. 

However, this does not seem to be the case.

Last week, the international crypto-exchange Coinbase had announced full-scale operations in India, including options to buy cryptos via UPI. Soon after, the National Payments Corporation of India, or NPCI released a statement claiming that it was not aware of any crypto exchange operating in India which allows users to buy cryptos using UPI.
But BT found that despite NPCI’s statement, at least four crypto exchanges operating in India allowed users to buy cryptocurrencies via UPI. These exchanges were CoinDCX, CoinSwitch Kuber, Unocoin, and Coinbase.

Also Read: Coinbase announces full scale crypto trading in India

But soon after NPCI released its statement, Coinbase suspended the option to buy crypto via UPI. Moreover, MobiKwik was also down on all crypto exchanges operating in India.

Several media reports suggested that the payment service provider had suspended its services because of the NPCI statement. But BT has found that MobiKwik's services across crypto exchanges have been down for more than ten days now. 

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

Sathvik Vishwanath, founder and CEO of Unocoin, said: "They [MobiKwik] stopped their services for all exchanges about 10-12 days ago”.

The spokesperson of WazirX also confirmed to BT that MobiKwik's suspension of its payment services for crypto exchanges happened before the NPCI statement and is not related to that.

MobiKwik declined to comment on our queries.