'How seamlessly can rupee move..,' Why UPI could drive India’s next crypto wave

India's UPI could bridge traditional finance and crypto, simplifying the movement of rupees into digital assets. Coinbase India plans upgrades to enhance payment efficiency, facilitating seamless transfer between banking and crypto.

India’s UPI could become a critical bridge between the country’s traditional financial system and crypto as digital assets move beyond trading and into payments, settlement and tokenised finance.

The bigger opportunity for India’s crypto ecosystem may not simply be getting more people to buy Bitcoin. It could make it easier for rupees to move into digital assets, for digital assets to move back into rupees, and for blockchain-based financial products to connect with the country’s existing payment infrastructure.

That is where UPI could play a significant role.

Coinbase India is preparing to upgrade its payment rails in the country, John O’Loghlen, Coinbase’s regional managing director, said in an interview with Livemint. While he did not name UPI directly, he described the upcoming upgrade as involving “one of the leading payment technologies in India, pioneered by the government”.

“We’re actually going to be announcing an upgrade to our payment rails in India soon,” O’Loghlen said. The upgrade, he added, would make it “very easy to move money in and out of your account.”

For Indian crypto users, the ability to move money seamlessly between the banking system and digital assets is crucial.

Coinbase India already allows users to “cash out of your crypto into Indian rupees” and to “top up to buy digital assets with Indian rupees”, O’Loghlen said.

Users can also move digital assets from another exchange or wallet into their Coinbase India account, subject to compliance requirements.

This makes payment infrastructure an important part of crypto adoption. The easier it is to move INR into a regulated crypto platform—and convert digital assets back into INR—the less friction users face between traditional finance and crypto.

The role of payment infrastructure could become even more important as crypto moves beyond Bitcoin and other investment assets.

“The practical use case for digital assets in the last 24 months has largely been around stablecoins,” O’Loghlen said.

Stablecoins, he said, can enable payments and transfers in a “real-time, low-cost” environment. Businesses can also use them to move money globally “atomically, programmatically”.

That creates a potential connection between UPI and the next generation of digital-asset use cases: UPI can provide the familiar rupee payment layer, while blockchain networks and stablecoins can enable new forms of digital settlement.

O’Loghlen also sees tokenisation as another major development. Stocks, ETFs and other financial assets are increasingly being explored on blockchain networks.

Tokenisation, he said, can bring “faster settlement times, lower transaction costs, 24-7 trading”.

For India, this could eventually create a broader financial ecosystem where UPI handles the movement of rupees, while blockchain rails handle digital assets and tokenised financial products.

The central question for crypto in India, therefore, is increasingly shifting from simply “How do I buy Bitcoin?” to “How seamlessly can India's payment infrastructure connect my rupees to the digital-asset economy?”

Sanchari Ghosh is an Assistant Editor at Mint with over 12 years of experience in journalism, specialising in personal finance, DLT & DeFi, geopolitics and foreign policy, with a particular emphasis on how these areas intersect. She writes extensively about how money works in everyday life—helping readers navigate personal finance decisions. As AI reshapes investing behaviour, capital is increasingly flowing into decentralized ecosystems, redefining how assets are managed, traded, and valued. She focuses on explaining how money flows within frameworks like Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), DeFi protocols, and crypto markets—while also exploring what the future of money could look like in a trustless, programmable financial world. She also focuses on immigration-related issues, simplifying complex topics around visas, passports, overseas financial planning, and the many practical challenges Indians face while moving or living abroad. Alongside personal finance, Sanchari has a strong understanding of international politics, contemporary and historical conflicts, and global state decisions. She closely tracks how geopolitical developments influence economies, markets, and individual financial choices, bringing together finance and global affairs in her reporting. She began her career as a desk editor, which gave her a strong foundation in news writing. Over time, her interest naturally shifted toward personal finance. Before joining Mint in 2020, she worked DNA, The Times of India, Outlook Money, BloombergQuint, and ETMoney. At Mint, she got an opportunity to expand her coverage to include immigration and geopolitical developments while continuing to closely follow personal finance trends and market movements.As a journalist, she is committed to accuracy, intellectual rigour, and fairness. She is an English Major and her work took her across cities including Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune. Living independently from an early age gave her firsthand experience in managing life and money on her own. This practical exposure sparked her strong interest in personal finance. Outside the newsroom, Sanchari is a sports enthusiast who regularly plays lawn tennis and squash. In her younger years, she was also a national-level badminton player.