WazirX Faces Flak As Users Struggle To Deposit Money In Mobikwik Wallet

Indian crypto exchange, WazirX, has come under fire on Twitter after its customers reported issues in using the exchange service. These issues stem from their recent tie-up with Mobikwik digital payments service. 

Users have reported that when attempting to deposit money into their WazirX wallet using Mobikwik, the payment is deducted from their Mobikwik accounts but the same does not show up in their WazirX wallet. 

In response, WazirX has assured its customers that they are looking into the issue and their funds will either be credited to their WazirX wallet or sent back within 7 days.

“Less than 1% of total INR deposits are getting stuck due to an issue at our payment partner’s end. We’re aware of the issue and working with them to resolve this asap. All the stuck deposits should reflect in users’ wallets within 7 days,” WazirX founder Nischal Shetty told Inc42.

Another issue that WazirX customers are not happy about is the levy of a convenience fee of 1.5%+ GST on all deposits made through Mobikwik. 

Recently, Mobikwik had faced allegations of data breach of 100 million of its users. Co-founder and CEO Bipin Preet Singh had refuted charges of having faced any kind of data breach, the company was criticised by experts for not owning up to a mistake. Taking cognizance of the matter, the RBI had ordered a third-party audit of the issue. 

WazirX recently had to remove the feature of depositing money into their wallets through UPI and IMPS and partner with Mobikwik due to problems with their partner banks. According to Nischal Shetty, founder and CEO of WazirX, several payment gateways have severed ties with Indian cryptocurrency exchanges over the past couple of weeks after ICICI Bank refused to allow such transactions.

“We’re at the finishing stages of adding new banking partners and bringing in multiple INR deposit options for our users to deposit funds to WazirX wallet. Parallelly, the team is in constant conversations with the banks still holding on to the old circular or don’t have any idea of how this is creating confusion. We request banks in India to update their compliance teams about the Supreme Court ruling that set aside the RBI circular against crypto,” Nischal informed Inc42 today.

RBI had banned cryptocurrencies in 2018, but this ban was rescinded by the Supreme Court in 2020. However, it is alleged that RBI has been informally urging lenders to cut ties with cryptocurrency exchanges and traders.

The government’s indecisiveness on the issue has created a precarious situation for the Crypto market in India. Cryptocurrencies have emerged as a popular financial asset for investments. This has led to the rise of a number of crypto exchanges across the world and in India. Cryptocurrencies offer a decentralised alternative for users to trade in virtual currencies that cannot be meddled with by financial institutions. According to Monark Modi, founder and CEO, Bitex Technologies. Indian users currently hold crypto assets worth more than $1.5 Bn and their daily trades in crypto are worth $350-500 Mn.