Binance förbjuder Indian Exchange WazirX från att använda dess tjänster

• Binance och WazirX har varit i en ägartvist sedan 2022.
• WazirX sade upp 40% av sin personalstyrka på grund av makroekonomiska förhållanden.

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Krisen mellan kryptobörsen Binance och Zanmai Labs, företaget som driver den indiska börsen WazirX, nådde en ny nivå på fredagen efter att Binance meddelade att de hade förbjudit företaget att använda sina tjänster.

Enligt en blogg posta som delades på fredagen, har Binance begärt att Zanmai Labs ska förhandla om villkor för uttag av eventuella återstående medel lagrade i Binance-plånböcker. Lösningen sätter tydligen stopp för oron för vad som skulle hända med användarmedel om båda plattformarna avslutade sitt partnerskap, men det verkar ha intensifierat deras konflikt ännu mer.

Binance skrev i stycket,

Som ett undantag har vi bjudit in Zanmai att utarbeta arrangemang med oss för att ta ut eventuella kvarvarande tillgångar på de relevanta kontona efter [feb. 3]. Ansvaret ligger dock i slutändan på Zanmai-teamet att göra uttagen snabbt.

WazirX later announced on Friday that it had started the process of moving assets to multi-sig wallets and anticipated finishing it “within the next few hours.” The news comes weeks after WazirX disclosed that 90% of its users’ assets are held in Binance wallets and the remaining 10% are held in cold storage wallets, less than a month after that disclosure.

WazirX is India’s biggest exchange. But the company faced difficulties in 2022 after local authorities claimed it had helped launder about $130 million. Authorities froze funds on WazirX, and Binance distanced itself from the embattled exchange, triggering their feud.

Binance CEO ChangPeng Zhao wrote at the time that “Binance does not own any shares in Zanmai Labs, the entity operating WazirX and established by the original founders.”

Zhao’s subsequent posts incited panic among WazirX users, as he claimed that Binance had the right to shut down WazirX and urged users to transfer their assets to his exchange instead. Zhao tweeted at the time,

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 shut down WazirX. But we can’t, because it hurts users. If you have funds on WazirX, you should transfer it to Binance. Simple as that.

Nischal Shetty, the co-founder of WazirX, later rubbished Zhao’s claims and revealed that plans were in place to sort out ownership concerns.

WazirX had to lay off 40% of its workforce in the following months due to macroeconomic concerns, India’s high taxation, the crypto contagion made worse by the FTX crash, and other factors. 

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