A major Indian cryptocurrency exchange, Wazirx, has been acquired by Binance. News.Bitcoin.com talked to Wazirx CEO Nischal Shetty to find out the implication of this acquisition and the changes users in India can expect. Meanwhile, the “India Wants Crypto” campaign to bring about positive regulation will continue, and Shetty is confident that the Indian government will positively regulate the crypto Industry.
Also read: Indian Supreme Court Wraps up Crypto Hearing for the Year
Wazirx Joins Binance
Mumbai-based crypto exchange Wazirx has been acquired by global crypto exchange Binance, Wazirx CEO Nischal Shetty confirmed to news.Bitcoin.com on Thursday. “Wazirx has now become India’s first-ever cryptocurrency exchange to be acquired by an international one,” the exchange announced.
“Binance has been working towards growing the ecosystem by introducing new fiat gateways,” Shetty explained. “Wazirx’s innovative P2P in India attracted them. The idea is to further grow the crypto ecosystem in India and also use our technology to launch fiat gateways in more countries.” The Indian exchange launched its peer-to-peer (P2P) platform after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a circular banning financial institutions from providing services to crypto businesses. Banks subsequently closed accounts of crypto exchanges, leaving their customers with no access to INR.
Shetty also confirmed that he will continue to serve as the CEO of Wazirx, adding:
We’ll continue to function the way we have been … The only thing that changes is that we now get more support through Binance’s global ecosystem which is great for crypto in general.
Wazirx’s P2P engine will soon be integrated into the Binance Fiat Gateway platform, allowing users to trade any cryptocurrencies on Binance with the purchase of USDT from the Wazirx P2P platform. “We’ll bring Wazirx P2P in the Buy Crypto page of Binance before the end of this month. There will be deep integration in Q1 2020,” Shetty detailed, elaborating that “There will be a big boost to liquidity as we’ll work with Binance on improving it.”
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) commented: “The acquisition of Wazirx shows our commitment and dedication to the Indian people and strengthen the blockchain ecosystem in India as well as another step forward in achieving the freedom of money.”
Campaign for Positive Crypto Regulation Continues
The two key issues that the crypto industry in India is facing have been delayed — the introduction of the crypto bill and the fight to lift the banking ban. On Monday, the country’s supreme court postponed hearing the arguments against the banking restriction by the central bank to January next year. The government is also delaying the introduction of the crypto bill entitled “Banning of Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2019.” This bill was drafted by an interministerial committee headed by former Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs Subhash Chandra Garg. The government previously told the court that the bill would be introduced in the Winter session of parliament. However, the Winter agenda released last week by Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament, does not include a crypto bill.
The Indian crypto community strongly believes that the bill is flawed and has been actively campaigning for the government to reexamine the recommendations. Shetty has been running a social media campaign called “India Wants Crypto,” which has entered its 385th day.
He told news.Bitcoin.com, “I’ll also continue my India Wants Crypto campaign in order to bring about positive crypto regulations in India.” He insisted that the acquisition by Binance has nothing to do with the RBI ban or the delayed crypto bill, stating:
We’re confident India will positively regulate crypto. In fact the recent decision by India to not include the bill in the next parliament session proves that India will listen to the crypto industry before deciding on the way forward.
Do you think Binance acquiring Wazirx is good for the crypto industry in India and abroad? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Wazirx.
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