Crypto Exchange WazirX’s bank accounts have been unfrozen by India’s law enforcement and economic intelligence agency, the Enforcement Directorate. Attributing the same to “active co-operation,” the exchange’s official blogpost noted,
“Due to the active cooperation extended by WazirX and active Anti-money laundering (AML) checks that led to the blocking of suspicious accounts, ED has unfrozen the bank accounts of WazirX. WazirX is now in a position to continue its banking operations as usual.”
WazirX carrying out AML Checks
The Enforcement Directorate, on its part, has been conducting investigations of 16 fintech companies and instant loan apps, and “some” of them have reportedly used WazirX’s platform. The exchange claimed that it has provided the agency with all the necessary details, information, and documents of the alleged accused companies who used its platform.
WaxirX’s post further noted that the company had a “no-tolerance” policy toward “illegal activities.” It added,
“The company further clarified that it has no association with any of the alleged accused Fintech and Instant loan app entities which appear to be the subject of ED investigation, and is carrying out the KYC/AML checks despite having no legal obligation to do so. WazirX is like any other intermediary whose platform may have been misused.”
Per the exchange’s investigation, most of the users whose information the ED had asked for were already identified as suspicious by it internally and were blocked in 2020-2021.
The Binance-WazirX beef
Here it is worth recalling that a few hours after the ED froze the exchange’s accounts last month, Changpeng Zhao said that Binance did not own the Indian crypto exchange. He asserted that the deal was understood to be completed in 2019, but never went through. The same led to a Twitter-spat between the between WazirX co-founder Nischal Shetty and Binance executive Zhao.
Also Read: WazirX Account Frozen by Indian Authorities