WazirX’s Nischal Shetty, Binance CEO Zhao Counter Each Other Over Ownership
That came after the Enforcement Directorate froze assets worth Rs 64.7 crore of WazirX .
India’s probe against WazirX triggered claims and counterclaims over the ownership of the crypto exchange between founder Nischal Shetty and Binance Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao.
That came after the Enforcement Directorate froze assets worth Rs 64.7 crore of WazirX on charges that it helped instant loan app companies launder fraudulent funds.
Binance’s CEO said it does not own Zanmai Labs Pvt., the operator of WazirX.
Binance has never, at any point in time, owned any shares in Zanmai Labs, Zhao tweeted. Binance only provides wallet services to WazirX as a tech solution, he said.
The recent allegations about WazirX’s operations are of deep concern to Binance, Zhao said.
In November 2019, Binance had published a blog post that it acquired WazirX. However, the transaction was never concluded, the Binance CEO said.
Shetty, however, countered this.
“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 WazirX,” he tweeted. “Binance operates crypto to crypto pairs, processes crypto withdrawal…”
A WazirX spokesperson said in a separate statement that the company is has been “fully cooperating with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for several days and have responded to all their queries fully and transparently”. “We do not agree with the allegations in the ED press release. We are evaluating our further plan of action.”