Binance has announced that it will discontinue its tech services, including its wallet, to WazirX, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange. The move has escalated tensions between the two companies, as Binance once sought to acquire WazirX.
According to a blog post by Binance, the firm operating WazirX, Zanmai, has not fully withdrawn its assets stored in Binance’s wallets despite being aware of the changing terms. Binance asserts that the escalation of this situation was prompted by Zanmai’s refusal to retract false narratives about its relationship with Binance.
In the blog post, Binance stated that it gave Zanmai a choice between retracting the false public statements and continuing to use Binance’s services or terminating the use of Binance’s wallet service. As Zanmai refused to clarify the misleading statements, Binance gave the firm until February 3, 2023 (23:59 UTC) to remove the funds from the accounts used for WazirX’s operations.
In August 2022, Binance shocked the cryptocurrency community by revealing that it did not own WazirX, despite the two companies having previously announced an acquisition. Changpeng Zhao, the CEO and founder of Binance, stated at the time that the company had been trying to conclude the deal for a few years but had not completed it due to “a few issues”.
However, WazirX and its executives maintain that Binance has acquired the firm. Binance stated that its relationship with WazirX is limited to tech offerings and is not special, as Binance has similar arrangements with many other firms that use Binance’s technology and infrastructure but independently run their businesses.
Binance emphasized that its customers are not impacted by the dispute between the two firms. WazirX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in India, processed over $10 billion worth of trades in 2022. The firm is facing regulatory challenges along with its local rivals, CoinSwitch and CoinDCX, due to India’s new tax rules on cryptocurrency.
Binance has stated that it has “invited” Zanmai to work out arrangements for withdrawing any remaining assets after February 3. The outcome of such arrangements will be decided by the Zanmai team. A WazirX spokesperson stated that the firm has started the process of transferring assets to multi-sig wallets, which is expected to be completed in the next few hours. The spokesperson reassured customers that they can continue to trade, deposit, and withdraw funds as usual, as their funds are safe with WazirX.
