CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), has cleared the air about it’s relationship with embattled exchange WazirX. CZ provided some details to clarify Binance’s relationship with WazirX, the crypto exchange whose assets were frozen by Indian financial regulators.
CZ stated that while Binance was partnered with WazirX, Binance held no equity or shares in WazirX’s operator, Zanmai Labs. In a Twitter thread on Friday, CZ however acknowledged one of Binance’s blog posts from 2019 where they wrote that they had acquired WazirX but he claimed that the transaction was never completed and as such, Binance do not own any shares in WazirX.
He added that Binance only provides crypto services like wallet provision and off-chain transaction solutions to help users of the platform to save money on network fees. CZ alluded that any responsibility for all other departments of the exchange (including KYC and withdrawals) is shouldered by WazirX.
However, WazirX founder, Nischal Shetty said that the story is more complicated than a pair of follow-up tweets might suggest. He still stuck to his claim that Binance owns WasirX. He said that Binance operates crypto to crypto pairs and processes crypto withdrawals. He also said that Binance owns WazirX’s domain name, holds all of WazirX’s crypto assets and profits and has root access to WazirX’s AWS folders. He told the public not to confuse Zanmai and WazirX.
WazirX bank balances were frozen after India’s Enforcement Directorate (IED) revealed that they raided properties connected to Zanmai Labs director Sameer Mhatre. The IED claimed to be investigating several companies for money laundering and predatory lending practices. Apparently, Wazir X has assisted over 16 accused Fintech companies to launder crime proceeds using crypto.
In the agency’s eyes, Zanmai Labs is the true owner of WazirX. However, they have created a web of agreement with several other high-profile cryptocurrency companies (including Binance) to obscure that fact. While it is claimed that WazirX handles all transactions at the exchange, it is suggested that Binance is responsible for crypto to crypto transactions at others.
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