WazirX’s Nischal Shetty Refuses To Retract Any Statement On Binance Ownership

Amid the ongoing ownership battle between crypto exchanges WazirX and Binance, WazirX cofounder Nischal Shetty has refused to retract statements that Binance had purchased the Indian exchange in a letter to Binance.

Earlier this week, Binance sent WazirX a letter asking to publish a pre-written ‘clarificatory statement’ retracting Shetty’s previous statements that Binance owned WazirX, CoinDesk reported.

Additionally, it also asked WazirX to erase all mentions of Binance in its terms of service. Changpeng Zhao-led crypto exchange also said in the letter that if WazirX does not meet the demands made in the letter, it may terminate all its service agreement with the latter.

Later, WazirX parent Zanmai replied to Binance saying that the demand letter was ‘unethical’ and attempted to use “media pressure and threats to force Zanmai into issuing false and misleading statements as ‘clarifications.’”

“Zanmai has not made any false or misleading statements regarding Binance’s role and responsibility in operating the WazirX platform, and Binance’s control over WazirX’s user assets,” WazirX’s Shetty said in a letter.

The letter also claimed that Zanmai transferred the control and ownership over the WazirX platform to Binance. Shetty also claimed that Binance benefited from the deal while it
has unilaterally withdrawn more than $67 Mn which has been earned as trading fees on the WazirX platform.

“Binance transferred these amounts to an internal account solely controlled by it since Binance owned the WazirX wallets,” he said.

The dispute between WazirX and Binance started last year when Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said on Twitter that the crypto giant never acquired India’s largest crypto exchange WazirX.

“Binance does not own any equity in Zanmai Labs, the entity operating WazirX and established by the original founders,” Zhao wrote.

In a blog post on November 21, 2019, Binance said that it had acquired WazirX. However, Zhao said that the deal was never closed and Binance has never owned any shares of Zanmai Labs.

WazirX CEO Nischal Shetty tweeted that while Binance does not hold any equity in Zanmai Labs, WazirX was acquired by Binance. Shetty added that Binance owns WazirX’s domain name, root access to AWS servers, crypto assets and crypto profits.

He also claimed that Zanmai and WazirX are two different and unrelated entities, with the only link between the two being himself.

If Binance terminates all service with WazirX it would be detrimental for the Indian exchange as majority of user assets with WazirX are parked with Binance-based wallets, according to its proof of reserves.

Amid controversies, regulatory scrutiny, ongoing crypto winter, the beleaguered Indian crypto exchange laid off as much as 40% of its workforce last year.

“Our priority is to be financially stable and to continue serving our customers. To achieve this, we’ve had to reduce our staff to weather the crypto winter,” the exchange said.

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