The cryptocurrency exchange, WazirX, and Binance founder, Changpeng Zhao, may soon reach an agreement regarding their ongoing ownership controversy.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the attorneys from both crypto exchanges are working together to resolve this issue.
Binance announced in November 2019 that it had purchased WazirX after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches on one of the directors of Zanmai Labs, which operates WazirX. Binance also confirmed that the 2019 deal was limited to a purchase agreement for WazirX's assets and intellectual property.
Notably, Binance did not make any equity investments in Zanmai Labs. According to the cryptocurrency exchange, WazirX (including the aforementioned assets) is still administered and managed by Zanmai Labs.
However, Nischal Shetty, the founder of WazirX, has claimed that the company was purchased by Binance and that the latter now owns the WazirX domain name. According to Shetty,
"Binance has root access to our AWS (Amazon Web Services) servers."
Interestingly, the two founders had a public argument on Twitter, and Zhao stated that WazirX's founding team controls the operations, including user sign-up, KYC, trading, and withdrawal initiation. Binance has no control over these aspects of the platform.
According to the sources, neither of the company's founders has had direct contact with the other since February. After failed takeover talks in 2019, it is believed that the owners were expected to stay for another two years.
Binance responded to WazirX's inquiry about the purchase in February by saying that the parent company is in the process of restructuring.
According to industry sources, nine cryptocurrency exchanges, including WazirX, are being investigated in connection with Chinese lending applications.
