oi-Roshni Agarwal
After the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on August 5, 2022 (Friday) informed that it had blocked assets of WazirX-linked to the worlds largest digital currency exchange Binance as part of its scrutiny concerning suspected violation of foreign exchange guidelines, Binance CEO today said that those individuals who have funds with WazirX should transfer them to Binance.
“If you have funds on WazirX, you should transfer it to Binance. Simple as that. We could disable WazirX wallets on a tech level, but we can’t/won’t do that. And as much debates as we are enduring, we can’t/won’t hurt users,” Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao tweeted.
As per the Enforcement Directorate it has blocked WazirX’s assets amounting to Rs. 646.7 million. The report by the Reuters mentions that a spokesperson for WazirX said that “We have been fully cooperating with the Enforcement Directorate for several days and have responded to all their queries fully and transparently”.”We do not agree with the allegations in the ED press release. We are evaluating our further plan of action,” it added.
WazirX is among the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in the country.
The ED further mentions that its investigation relates to the crypto exchange’s alleged involvement with instant loan app entities in laundering the crime proceeds by converting them into cryptos over its platform. Searches pertaining to the matter were done on one of the directors of Zanmai Lab that owns WazirX, said the Reuters report. The report also cited that the ED stated that it was carrying out money-laundering related investigations against several shadow banks and their fintech companies for violation of central bank norms and indulging in predatory lending practices.
As per the Report that cites the official release by the ED, it stated, “while doing fund trail investigation, ED found that large amounts of funds were diverted by the fintech companies to purchase crypto assets and then launder them abroad … maximum amount of funds were diverted to WazirX exchange and the crypto assets so purchases have been diverted to unknown foreign wallets.”
With Inputs From Reuters
Story first published: Saturday, August 6, 2022, 17:43 [IST]
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