WazirX co-founder Nischal Shetty refuted a number of statements by Binance chief Changpeng Zhao regarding the platform’s relationship with Binance.
1/ Deal involved Binance Parent entity
After some media reports on Binance structure, we asked about it
We were given an ambiguous answer that parent entity is under restructuring
It’s been many months, still waiting for Binance Parent entity
Can Binance name Parent entity? https://t.co/5oehKqaTxp
— Nischal (Shardeum) ⚡️ (@NischalShetty) August 6, 2022
Earlier Zhao stated that Binance never owned a stake in Zanmai Labs, the company behind WazirX.
He clarified that the purchase of the Indian exchange announced in the November 21, 2019 message was never completed. On August 5, 2022, Binance representatives added a clarification to the press release, stating that it concerned the acquisition of “certain assets and intellectual property”.
The statements by Zhao followed after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) suspected WazirX in money laundering of $350 million. According to media reports, the regulator froze $8.16 million of the exchange’s assets as part of the case.
“The fact: we asked to hand over the source code of the WazirX system, its deployment, operations, quite recently, in February this year. We were refused. Binance does not control these systems. WazirX did not cooperate with us and appears not to have interacted with the ED,” Zhao wrote.
Continuing to distance itself from the Indian platform, the company announced the closure of the off-chain transfer channel between Binance and WazirX from August 11.
“The technology, product, domain, brand and everything else were sold by Binance to our Singaporean company Zettai,” Shetty said in an interview with CoinDesk.
He said that there are all the documents proving the sale, but he cannot show them “for legal reasons.” The executive noted that WazirX is a technology. Therefore, there is no reason to believe Binance does not control the platform, Shetty asserted.
After the deal, Binance asked the Indian arm of Zettai — Zanmai Labs — to launch cryptocurrency trading in rupees (INR) in India and provided a licence, Shetty said.
He added that all cryptocurrency trading on the platform, deposits and withdrawals in digital assets are controlled by Binance. Zanmai is responsible only for trading in INR pairs, as well as fiat deposits and withdrawals.
Shetty added that they are cooperating with the ED and providing documents requested during the investigation.
Recall that concerns about WazirX by the regulator arose as early as 2021 — the exchange was suspected of violating currency rules.
In the same year, one of Binance’s subsidiaries came under the scrutiny of India’s Financial Intelligence Unit попало одно из подразделений Binance.
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