WazirX, India’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, made a startling revelation that Binance, the global crypto giant, conducted the initial exchange offering (IEO) for its WRX token and currently maintains control over the token supply.
In a statement released on May 16, the WazirX team clarified that Binance had kept all the proceeds, totaling around $2 million, from the IEO for itself. Notably, the WazirX team emphasized that they had not received any token allocations.
According to WazirX, Binance holds control over all wallets containing locked and unlocked WRX tokens. It further revealed that Binance currently holds 580.7 million units of locked and unlocked WRX tokens, equivalent to approximately $74.5 million based on the token’s current price. Binance has conducted its quarterly burns for the WRX token and held the unlocked tokens in its account.
In a series of transactions between April 2021 and March 2022, Binance moved 116.8 million unlocked WRX tokens to its treasury. However, WazirX pointed out that Binance has failed to conduct any of the scheduled quarterly burns for WRX since January 2022. WazirX emphasized that Binance bears the responsibility for executing the quarterly burn of WRX tokens.
The relationship between Binance and WazirX has been marred by an ongoing dispute over the ownership structure of the Indian exchange. While WazirX claims to be owned by Binance, the CZ-led firm argues that it merely provides wallet services and technical support to the Indian exchange.
This recent disclosure adds another layer of complexity to an already tense relationship. In February, the feud escalated to the point where Binance terminated its partnership with WazirX, instructing the Indian exchange to withdraw its assets from the platform.
Amidst these developments, the WRX token has experienced a decline of over 7.1% in the past seven days, currently trading at $0.124. As the situation unfolds, questions regarding the control and management of the WRX token persist.