WazirX CEO Addresses Ownership and Withdrawal Issues on Exchange

WazirX co-founder Nischal Shetty has addressed questions regarding the cryptocurrency exchange's ownership and operations. In a Twitter exchange with crypto influencer Pushpendra Singh, Shetty provided an update on the current state of the platform.

Shetty stated that he is operating the exchange “on their behalf until the dispute gets resolved.” When pressed for details on how trades were being managed without apparent administrative access, Shetty cited confidentiality obligations limiting his ability to provide specifics.

“I can't get into any more particulars because of confidentiality obligations,” Shetty added.

WazirX is among India’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges. It was founded in 2018 by Shetty, who also acts as the platform’s CEO. According to the company’s bi-annual transparency report published in late April, WazirX is India’s top crypto exchange by volume—reaching over $400 million in March.

Still, the firm does not share its market data with major independent third parties such as CoinMarketCap or CoinGecko.

Recently, WazirX announced a phased withdrawal system for Indian Rupees (INR). Users were initially allowed to withdraw up to half of their available 66% INR balance limit. The exchange also reduced withdrawal fees from 25 INR to 10 INR per transaction. However, this process was halted due to what Shetty described as "massive INR freezes."

Shetty explained that the inability to provide full access to user funds is because a portion of the assets are frozen, a situation he says affects other Indian crypto exchanges as well. The current situation follows a presumed North Korea-linked hack in July, resulting in a $230 million loss. The recent reopening of INR withdrawals was the first such opportunity for users since the hack.

In its report, the exchange seemingly moved the blame on its multi-factor wallet management service partner, Liminal. Still, the custody service provider strongly refuted the claims in messages shared to Decrypt, claiming that the multi-signature wallet in question was allegedly “created independently and further imported on the Liminal platform,” they claimed.

WazirX on the other hand stands by its report, which claimed that “malicious transactions involved signatures from three WazirX signers and one from Liminal, confirming the use of Liminal’s infrastructure.” Company statements also note that the exchange was “unable to find any evidence that WazirX signers’ machines were compromised.”

Edited by Stacy Elliott.