After Successfully Acquiring WazirX In 2019, Binance Now Claims The Crypto Exchange Is Not Its Own, Why?

Binance disclaims its acquisition of WazirX. (Binance)

JAKARTA – Binance boss Changpeng Zhao recently stated that his company does not own WazirX. The statement was made by CZ after the Indian Directorate of Enforcement (ED) law enforcement froze WazirX's assets worth 8 million US dollars following an alleged violation of foreign exchange rules by crypto exchanges.

The announcement from the Binance CEO has confused many. At the same time, WazirX insists that Binance's acquisition of the company did take place.

In a Twitter thread, Changpeng Zhao stated that he did not want to debate WazirX ownership on Twitter. However he said that Binance could have shut down WazirX but that it couldn't be done because it hurt its users.

Sad that these have to be debated on Twitter:Binance provides wallet services for WazirX.WazirX domain is transferred to our control.We were given a shared access to an AWS account.We could shutdown WazirX. But we can't, because.. 1/2 https://t.co/YoMIgAHC5v

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) August 5, 2022

He also said in a series of tweets that the company had "tried to work out a deal for the past few years," but had not finalized the transaction, citing "several issues" and he declined to elaborate.

As is known, in November 2019, Binance announced that it had successfully acquired WazirX in a Binance blog post.

“Global crypto exchange and blockchain ecosystem, Binance, today announced the acquisition of WazirX, India's most trusted bitcoin exchange,” reads an announcement from Binance, on November 21, 2019.

On Friday, Changpeng Zhao stated that the purchase of WazirX was never completed. He also added that his company does not own Zanmai Labs, the entity set up by the founder of the Indian crypto exchange to operate the WazirX crypto trading platform.

“On November 21, 2019, Binance published a blog post that it had 'acquired' WazirX. This transaction was never completed. Binance has never – at any point – owned any stake in Zanmai Labs, the entity that operates WazirX,” he wrote.

“Binance only provides wallet services for WazirX as a technology solution. There is also integration using off-chain tx, to save on network costs. WazirX is responsible for all other aspects of the WazirX exchange, including user registration, KYC, trading, and initiating withdrawals,” added CZ.

However, CZ's statement was refuted by the founder of WazirX, Nischal Shetty. According to him, Binance has acquired WazirX. Shetty then makes a number of points stating that Binance owns the WazirX domain name, has root access from AWS servers, and owns all crypto assets on WazirX, and benefits from trading crypto on WazirX.

“Don't confuse Zanmai and WazirX,” Shetty wrote in a Twitter post, Aug. 5, 2022.

1/ FACTS about WazirX & Binance:WazirX was acquired by Binance Zanmai Labs is an India entity owned by me & my co-founders Zanmai Labs has license frm Binance to operate INR-Crypto pairs in WazirXBinance operates crypto to crypto pairs, processes crypto withdrawal…

— Nischal (Shardeum) ️ (@NischalShetty) August 5, 2022

The feud over the WazirX acquisition is still ongoing. Both Changpeng Zhao and Nischal Shetty are debating the purchase of India's largest crypto exchange which was done at the end of 2019.