Who Owns WazirX? Binance Threatening Indian Crypto Exchange?

It’s been 6 months since a heated spat over ownership of India’s largest crypto exchange broke out between Nischal Shetty, CEO of WazirX, and CZ, CEO of Binance. However, this discourse between the two giants isn’t over yet.

Will Binance shut down WazirX?

The latest reports suggest that Binance is trying to eradicate WarirX out of proportion. A letter sent from Binance to WazirX asked the Indian crypto exchange to publish a “clarificatory statement” taking back the comment that Binance owns WazirX.

However, it also requested the Indian crypto exchange to remove Binance’s name from its terms and conditions. It is being reported that CZ might terminate all its service agreements with WazirX if it fails to meet the demands placed by Binance.

To this Zanmai, the parent company of WazirX responded to Binance calling it an ‘unethical’ demand letter. It mentioned that Binance is using media pressure in order to force Zanmai into issuing misleading statements as ‘clarifications’.

Problems for WazirX

In 2019, Binance reportedly said that they acquired WazirX. While in 2022, CZ said that they never owned the exchange. So, what’s the biggest problem for the Indian crypto exchange here?

There is a huge amount of funds that are being taken away by Binance in the process. As part of the acquisition deal, WazirX handed ownership of certain accounts to the world’s largest crypto exchange back in 2020.

The real equation here frames out to be that these mentioned accounts are owned and controlled by Binance. Meanwhile, these accounts are funded by trading fees on WazirX. As per reports, WazirX has transferred around $67 million to these accounts.

WazirX can easily go on to continue accessing and operating these accounts. However, this will only make it to the sole benefit of Binance.

However, the WazirX cofounder Nischal Shetty choose to reject the reports that Binance bought the Indian crypto exchange. He mentioned that Zanmai is not making any false or misleading comments about Binance’s role in operating the exchange.