WazirX-Binance saga: ‘Govt has no role to play in the fiasco,’ say sources

Finance Ministry sources, commenting on the WazirX-Binance saga, have said that the government has no role to play in it. It added that the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBIC) is currently working on applicability of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on virtual digital assets. 

Sources told Business Today, “The government has no role to play in any fiasco between two cryptocurrency agencies. India’s stance on cryptocurrency depends on what other countries plan to do, we will work as per international collaboration.”

“RBI has been of the view that it (crypto) should be prohibited, and investors were warned of the risks,” said the sources.

They also said that the CBIC is currently preparing a draft on the applicability of GST on VDAs, and discussions on the same are at an early stage. 

The comments come after co-founder of Binance Changpeng Zhao, and Nischal Shetty, co-founder of WazirX argued over the former’s acquisition of the latter, leaving WazirX users to feel the brunt of the feud. 

The ED had announced on Friday that bank assets worth Rs 64.67 crore held by WazirX Director had been frozen in connection with a case of money laundering via cryptocurrencies. The spat between the founders took place after that. Zhao then tweeted: “We could shut down WazirX,” leading to panic among users. In a subsequent tweet he advised WazirX users to move funds to Binance. “If you have funds on WazirX, you should transfer it to Binance. Simple as that,” Zhao warned.

Also read: WazirX was acquired by Binance: Nischal Shetty

Also read: 15 million crypto users left in limbo as Binance-WazirX feud continues