WazirX Removes USDC Stablecoin, Converting User Holdings to Binance USD

WazirX, one of India’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, today announced that it will be removing USD Coin (USDC), Pax Dollar (USDP), and TrueUSD (TUSD), and automatically converting users’ existing balances to these three stablecoins in BUSD, the stablecoin developed by Binance.

“WazirX has stopped deposits from USDC, USDP and TUSD, and we will not support any new deposits,” the exchange said in a statement. announcement Monday. “To improve liquidity and capital efficiency for users, WazirX will implement automatic BUSD conversion for users’ existing balances of USDC, USDP, and TUSD stablecoins at a 1:1 ratio.”

The exchange clarified that it will freeze USDC, USDP, and TUSD withdrawals after 5:00 PM IST on September 23, followed by the delisting of spot market pairs for all three stablecoins on September 26. .

Automatic conversion of users’ existing USDC, USDP, and TUSD balances will be completed “on or before October 5,” WazirX added.

WazirX follows Binance in USDC delisting

Today’s news comes two weeks after a similar move by Binance, which used similar wording in its announcement to remove USDC and the other two stablecoins. The exchange said the move is “to improve liquidity and capital efficiency for users” and reserves the right to “modify the list of stablecoins eligible for automatic conversion.”

This also follows Binance recently denying its ownership of WazirX, despite stating the exact opposite in 2019.

In early August, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the founder of Binance, took to Twitter to comment on the 2019 announcement that Binance would acquire WazirX in a deal valued at $10 million, saying that “this transaction was never completed”. ”

WazirX co-founder Nischal Shetty denounced Zhao’s comments, saying that he and other co-founders own Zanmai Labs, which holds a license from Binance to mine INR-crypto pairs on WazirX.

According to Shetty, Binance, in turn, operates WazirX’s crypto-to-crypto pairs and processes crypto withdrawal, and that “WazirX as a product and brand is owned by Binance.”

Decrypt contacted Binance and WazirX, but had not yet received a response at the time of publication.

Zhao’s refusal of the deal follows reports from the Enforcement Authority (ED), India’s top financial law enforcement agency, accusing WazirX of breaching foreign exchange regulations. and froze $8.14 million in company assets.

WazirX said last week that its bank accounts had been unblocked following “active cooperation” with the ED via active anti-money laundering (AML) checks which saw the accounts of 16 companies fintech who used WazirX to direct crypto assets to “unknown foreign wallets”. being blocked.