What is WazirX?

WazirX is one of the fastest growing Indian cryptocurrency exchanges with over 10 million users. As crypto gains popularity in India, platforms like WazirX have also experienced steady growth. 

WazirX facilitates the exchange of over 200 cryptocurrencies and supports various payment options. Reports from 2021 explained that WazirX experienced an incredible 2648% user growth and achieved a trading volume worth USD 38 billion. 

Along with the website, users can trade across multiple devices through the app. WazirX also provides a good catalogue of crypto educational material in English and Hindi.  

• With over 10 million users, WazirX is a popular crypto exchange in India.
• The exchange supports over 200 coins, spot trading, P2P, and WRX token. Users can get the mobile app or use the exchange website for trading. 
• WazriX offers basic crypto education in English and Hindi

WazirX Company Overview

Founded in 2018, WazirX is an Indian Crypto exchange platform run by Nischal Shetty, Siddharth Menon, and Sameer Mhatre. The company has its headquarters in Mumbai.  

In 2019, WazirX confirmed through an email to its users that Binance had acquired it. WazirX went on to become the first ever Indian crypto trading platform to be acquired by an international trading platform. This acquisition helped to erase national boundaries between traders. 

With the merger, Wazir’s P2P engine integrates with the Fiat Gateway Platform of Binance. Official statements from Binance disclose that one of the main goals of such a merger is the addition of more fiat currencies to Binance. Binance looks forward to working with more local partners and establishing an even greater community of users. 

The merger between the two companies enables users to trade any digital asset available on Binance with USDT, directly from the WazirX marketplace. On the other hand, Wazir users now get to trade with Indian National Currency on the Binance Gateway. 

However, recently the Enforcement Directorate (a government agency) has frozen the accounts of WazirX based on non-cooperation, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The Enforcement Department suspects the platform of violating foreign exchange regulations and the investigation was initiated last year itself. 

Assets of the company worth rupees 64.67 crores (~$8.1M USD) stand frozen by the Enforcement Department. The event followed a search operation on the premises of one of the directors of Zanmai Labs, the parent company of the WazirX exchange. 

During the search operation, it was found that one of the directors of the company had complete remote access to the entire database, yet he was not ready to disclose the details of the transactions. The details asked by ED were about the transactions from the Instant Loan App fraud. 

Following the above scenario, the two companies got involved in a conflict on Twitter. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, in one of his tweets, denies the ownership of Zanmai Labs. CZ claims that WazirX has been uncooperative with them. 

On the other hand, Nischal Shetty denies the fact and tweets back that the deal involved Binance’s parent company, which remains unknown to them. The conflict follows several tweet replies from both ends.  

How Does WazirX Work?

WazirX is a cryptocurrency exchange where users can buy, sell, or trade cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and other digital assets.

With a WazirX account, you can: 

• Buy cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and other digital assets
• Sell your assets and or exchange them for fiat
• Trade your crypto
• Use P2P platform
• Get access to the mobile app

How to Sign Up on WazirX

Signing up on WazirX is a straightforward process. Here’s a rundown of it:

• Visit the official WazirX website and hit the ‘sign up’ button
• Fill in all the required details. Enter your email and set up a strong password.
• You will be asked to verify your email and set up 2FA.
• You can choose to proceed with or without KYC. However, completing the KYC process will unlock additional features. 
• In case you decide to complete KYC, you will have to submit Aadhar Card, PAN Card, and banking details.
• Your profile will be verified within 48 hours. 

The sign up process is the same through the mobile app. 

Does WazirX Have a Token?

The native token of the WazirX exchange is the WRX token and it gives you certain benefits although it is not a governance token.

In order to earn WRX, you can

• Purchase it directly
• Mine it when trading in INR, BTC, or USDT markets
• Sign up for the exchange to convert dust into WRX. Dust refers to the leftover bits of a cryptocurrency after making a trade. 

Once you get WRX, you may use it for:

• Buying NFTs
• As anyour investment
• Airdrops amount that may be determined by the amount of WRX that you hold
  

WazirX Review: Pros and Cons

Before you sign up on WazirX, here are all the merits and demerits broken down for you:

WazirX Pros

• Well-known in India

In India, WazirX is a trusted platform for trading of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. In fact, it is one of the earliest and biggest exchanges in the country and has over 10 million users. 

• Easy UI

Wazir’s user interface is easy to use. It’s uncomplicated and sleek, and you find everything you want without hassle. Trading on the exchange is easy as well. The trade view looks clean on the desktop as well as on the app.

• P2P Trading

Peer-to-Peer trading on WazirX is quick and easy. Further, the auto-matching feature and high liquidity make P2P trades quicker. 

WazirX Cons

• Slow KYC verification

Users will have to be patient with the KYC process. Sometimes the verification takes more than the estimated time. 

• The recent investigation

by the ED led to massive withdrawals by users. The exchange sent out a request through its official Twitter handle asking users not to withdraw. 

WazirX supported cryptocurrencies

At the time of writing, WazirX supports over 242 cryptocurrencies, which include all the major coins and some newer coins as well. 

You can find: 

• Bitcoin
• Bitcoin cash
• Dogecoin
• Ethereum
• Litecoin
• Shiba Inu
• USDT

And more.

WazirX fees

WazirX facilitates spot trading with a 0.2% trading fee (both maker and taker). However, if you enable the option of using WRX tokens for paying translation fees, you get a 50% rebate on spot trading fees. 

For more details, you can visit the official Fees page on WazirX. 

WazirX Deposit Methods

• Money Deposit: One can deposit money on WazirX through several payment methods. This includes RTGS, NEFT, IMPS, and UPI payment options. The minimum amount of fund deposit on WazirX is rupees 100.
• Crypto deposit: WazirX doesn’t charge any fees from its users for crypto deposits. There is neither any minimum limit of deposit.
• Crypto withdrawals: WazirX charges a minimum fee while transferring crypto to the blockchain. One can find More details about the fees against different cryptocurrencies on the Trading, Deposit & Withdrawal Fees page of the website/application.

WazirX trading services offered

The exchange offers spot trading for more than 200 coins. 

Trade view

As you can see above, the WazirX trade view is simple to view and use. You have the central panel that displays prices in easy-to-understand candlesticks. Right below the panel, you can view the order book and trading history. 

The prices of the popular trading pairs are displayed on the left. Meanwhile, the order form can be accessed from the right side panel. 

Spot trading

WazirX offers spot trading for over 200 cryptocurrencies. While trading, you can place different order types like limit and stop limit. 

Other Features and Services Offered by WazirX

Apart from spot trading, WazirX offers a few other services. 

P2P trading

With the P2P trading in WazirX, the exchange finds and matches a buyer and seller of USDT in exchange for Fiat. During the transaction, WazirX escrows the USDT. The one buying USDT transfers Fiat to the seller’s bank via IMPS/UPI payment methods. Once there is confirmation of such payment, the seller releases the USDT.

Mobile app

Apart from the desktop and web versions, the platform also features a mobile application for both IOS and Android users. It provides a seamless experience and has successfully achieved the trust of its users.

WazirX Security

WazirX claims that they are the most secured exchange platform in India. Also, they focus on investing in security audits on a regular basis. Moreover, Binance has acquired WazirX recently, further strengthening the security to some extent. 

In order to protect its funds from hacking, the company stores 95% of its funds in cold storage. Apart from that, the platform adheres to strict KYC guidelines.

It also maintains a multi-signature wallet system.

User Account Security

For the purpose of account security, WazirX offers a two-step verification method to the users. The users can choose between mobile SMS service and the Google Authenticator app to activate it. 

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