Binance Urges WazirX to Compensate Users After $235 Million Hack

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Binance, in an official statement released today, denied responsibility for the WazirX cover-up Losses of 235 million dollarsrejecting claims of ownership or control over the exchange and urging its management to resolve the issue.

“The security and protection of user funds is a fundamental responsibility of any cryptocurrency platform. We urge the WazirX team under Zanmai/Zettai to be accountable to WazirX users and compensate them for the funds that were lost under Zanmai/Zettai,” Binance said.

Additionally, Binance emphasized that it never owned or controlled WazirX, countering the Indian exchange’s claims that Binance should compensate affected users.

“Binance did not own, control or operate WazirX at any time, including before, during or after the July 2024 attack. On the other hand, Zanmai, a company registered in India, is the entity that registered the WazirX platform with the Indian FIU in 2023 and is recognized by the Enforcement Directorate of India as the owner of WazirX,” Binance said.

Binance added that although a contract was signed between the parties, the proposed transaction was never completed due to Zettai’s default.

In addition to the contractual issues, after previously supporting WazirX with technical solutions, Binance has confirmed that it is no longer providing wallet services to the exchange following the incident.

“Binance does not and has never provided cryptocurrency-related services to WazirX users as described in the WazirX User Agreement. As I said before, Binance previously provided Zanmai wallet services as a technology solution for their WazirX exchange operations, as we do for many other third parties.”

Even though Binance tried to help the WazirX team, its efforts to verify the hack went unanswered. The report said:

“We have asked the WazirX team to provide us with their incident reports, including all internal reports as well as the alleged report from Mandiant dated August 14, 2024.”

Additionally, in 2019, Binance acquired certain assets and intellectual property of WazirX to launch more fiat-to-crypto gateways. However, as clarified in an August 2022 report update, this acquisition did not include any stake in Zanmai Labs, the entity that operates WazirX. As a result, WazirX continues to be managed and operated by Zanmai Labs, reinforcing Binance’s position that it does not own or control the exchange.

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