WazirX Delists USDC Stablecoin, Converting User Holdings to Binance USD

WazirX, a leading Indian cryptocurrency exchange, today announced it would delist USD Coin (USDC), Pax Dollar (USDP) and TrueUSD (TUSD), and would auto-convert users' existing balances on those three stablecoins into BUSD, the stablecoin developed by Binance.

“WazirX has stopped deposits of USDC, USDP, and TUSD, and we will not support any new deposits,” the exchange said in an announcement Monday. “To enhance liquidity and capital efficiency for users, WazirX will implement BUSD Auto-Conversion for users' existing balances of USDC, USDP, and TUSD stablecoins at a 1:1 ratio.”

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

The auto-conversion of users' USDC, USDP, and TUSD existing balances will be completed “on or before 5th October,” added WazirX.

WazirX follows Binance in delisting USDC

Today’s news comes two weeks after a similar move by Binance, which used similar wording in its announcement to delist USDC and the two other stablecoins. The exchange said that the move was meant “to enhance liquidity and capital efficiency for users” and reserved the right to “amend the list of stablecoins eligible for auto-conversion.”

It also comes in the wake of Binance recently denying its ownership of WazirX—despite stating exactly the opposite back in 2019.

At the beginning of August, Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, the founder of Binance, took to Twitter to comment on the 2019 announcement of Binance’s acquisition of WazirX in a deal reportedly valued up to $10 million, saying that “this transaction was never completed.”

WazirX co-founder Nischal Shetty railed against Zhao’s comments, stating that he and other co-founders own Zanmai Labs, which has a license from Binance to operate 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 a brand is owned by Binance.”

Decrypt reached out to both Binance and WazirX, but was yet to hear back at the time of publication.

Zhao’ denial of the deal followed reports of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), India’s chief financial enforcement agency, accusing WazirX of breaking currency exchange regulations and freezing $8.14 million in the company’s assets.

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