On Friday a big news came for Indian cryptocurrency users, especially for WazirX customers. Enforcement Directorate of India issued a statement in which they said, they have frozen the bank accounts of WazirX with the balance of 64.67 crores.
In ED’s reports, they found strong evidence against Zanmai Labs the main operating company of WazirX while investigating non-banking financial companies (NBFC) and their fintech partners indulging in predatory lending practices. They searched Zanmai Labs and froze their bank balances.
According to Enforcement Directorate, the Chinese loan lending companies were shut down in India and diverted their funds through crypto exchanges. Maximum funds were transferred through the WazirX crypto exchange.
After this statement, the WazirX is again in major trouble. the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance’s CEO Changpeng Zhao also claimed that they do not own any equity in Zanmai Labs, the entity operating WazirX.
Earlier WazirX’s managing director Mr. Nischal Shetty had claimed that WazirX is an Indian exchange that controls all the crypto-to-crypto and INR-to-Crypto transactions and has only an IP and preferential agreement with Binance. But now Zanmai Labs changed its statement and claimed that they are only involved in only INR-to-crypto transactions and all other transactions are done by Binance on WazirX. According to the ED statement, both these claims are opposite to each other to evade oversight by Indian regulatory agencies.
On the other hand, WazirX said in its tweet, “We have been fully cooperating with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for several days and have responded to all their queries fully and transparently. We do not agree with the allegations in the ED press release. We are evaluating our further plan of action.”
WazirX also said, “Notwithstanding the action taken by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), we would like to state that currently deposits and withdrawals are working as usual. We are evaluating our further plan of action and will always act in the best interest of users.”
Nischal Shetty co-founder of WazirX said in his tweet, “WazirX was acquired by Binance, Zanmai Labs is an India entity owned by me & my co-founders, Zanmai Labs has a license from Binance to operate INR-crypto pairs in WazirX, Binance operates crypto to crypto pairs, processes crypto withdrawal.”
But the Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao replied that they have not owned any share of Zanmai Labs the entity operating WazirX. On November 21, 2019, Binance published a blog post claiming that they have acquired WazirX. But now according to Zhao, that transaction was never completed.
Now arguments have been started on Twitter between Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and WazirX managing director Nischal Shetty for ownership of the WazirX and Zanmai Labs.
Now the WazirX users are in trouble to be with WazirX or not. WazirX also said in a tweet, “Notwithstanding the action taken by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), we would like to state that currently deposits and withdrawals are working as usual. We are evaluating our further plan of action and will always act in the best interest of users.”
I am Pawan Kashyap currently living in Amritsar. I always try to grab new things from the cryptocurrency market. From my observations and trends in the market, I always try to provide the best and accurate information in the form of articles from this blog. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to join us.
