For several months, the crypto exchange platform, Binance and its Indian counterpart WazirX have been mired in an endless controversy. At the end of 2019, the first announced that it had bought the second. But last year, when a money laundering investigation was opened in India against WazirX, the two companies deny ownership of WazirX to each other. CZ’s company says the deal with Zanmai Labs, the company that operates Wazirx, is limited to certain assets. But the pill seems not to pass. Meanwhile, it is the users of the platform who bear the brunt of this misunderstanding.
New escalation between Binance and Zanmai Labs!
The dispute between Binance and WazirX escalated further this week. On Saturday January 28, the Indian exchange released evidence to prove that WazirX is far from a standalone entity.
These revelations come a few days aftera request for clarification was sent by Binance to Zanmai Labs. The market leader notably asked the leaders of Zanmai Labs to invalidate, through a public statement, their allegations that he owned WazirX. The CZ exchange has also requested that any mention of its name be removed from WazirX’s terms of service.
The Indian crypto exchange responded that these queries are “unethical” accusing his partner of employing “media pressure and threats to force the company to publish false and misleading statements”.
New evidence?
In the response letter to Binance, WazirX co-founder Nischal Shetty indicated that the company would not back down on previously made statements.
“Zanmai has made no false or misleading statements regarding Binance’s role and responsibility in operating the WazirX platform, or its control over WazirX user assets. Zanmai transferred control and ownership of WazirX to him”indicates the letter.
To dismantle these allegations, Wazirx officials attached a chain of emails to the response letter. It reveals exchanges between Brian Schroder, the CEO of Binance US, and Tushar Patel, the vice president of finance of WazirX. These exchanges concern a “Amended Share Purchase Agreement”, which attributes to the behemoth of the sector, the ownership of certain WazirX accounts. A deal that allows WazirX to continue to have “access and operate these accounts, for the sole benefit of Binance”designated as “the absolute owner of these accounts”.
It would be under this market that the largest crypto exchange in the world would have, according to the letter, “unilaterally withdrawn over $67 million, which was earned as trading fees on WazirX”. Its leaders have not yet reacted to these statements and we can imagine that its response will not be long in view of the stakes. In the meantime, it is the users who risk suffering. Indeed, Binance has made it clear that if WazirX executives do not comply, it will sever any contractual relationship with them. “If you have funds on WazirX, you must transfer them to Binance. As simple as that, had tweeted last August, Changpeng Zhaothe boss of Binance.
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