Wazirx Never Owned, Says Binance CEO After Ed Raids Zanmai Labs Director

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, said Friday that it does not hold any stake in Zanmai Labs, the entity operating WazirX and created by the original founders.

In a series of tweets, Changpeng Zhao, Founder and CEO of Binance, said he posted a blog post stating that he had “acquired” WazirX. However, this transaction was never finalized and Binance never held shares of Zanmai Labs.

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

Zhao denied recent allegations regarding the operation of WazirX and the way the platform is run by Zanmai Labs are of deep concern to Binance, “Binance works with law enforcement around the world. We would be happy to work with ED from any way possible,” he added.

In 2019, Binance said it acquired WazirX, and people in India can buy and sell crypto with Indian rupees (INR) on the Binance Fiat gateway from November 25.

This comes after the Law Enforcement Branch froze Rs 64.67 crore of WazirX’s bank deposits as part of an ongoing money laundering investigation against certain fraudulent smartphone-based lending apps.” supported by Chinese funds.

The agency said it raided Sameer Mhatre, a director of Zanmai Lab Pvt Ltd (which owns WazirX) on August 3 because he did not respond to requested information and was “uncooperative”.