FX168 Financial News (Asia Pacific) News Binance (Binance), the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, drew a clear line in a statement on Tuesday (September 17), stressing that it has never owned, controlled, or operated the Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX. According to Binance, WazirX issued multiple misleading statements implying that Binance may be responsible for $0.235 billion in customer losses after the July hack.

WazirX was hacked in July and lost up to $0.235 billion.

Blockchain analyst Lookonchain reports that the stolen assets include 5.43 trillion Shiba Inu coins (SHIB), worth 0.102 billion dollars, 15,298 Ether, worth 52.5 million dollars, 20.5 million MATIC, 11.24 million dollars, 640.27 billion PEPE tokens worth 7.6 million dollars and 0.135 billion GALA. $3.5 million worth, and 5.79 million USDT dollar stablecoins.

Earlier in September, Indian crypto trading platform WazirX, which was attacked by hackers, said that the reason for applying for a moratorium with the Singapore High Court was to have breathing room to finalize solutions for restructuring and compensation, and that negotiations with potential investors will be sought during the suspension period.

According to CryptoSlate, Binance called the allegations extremely misleading and clarified that the company “has never owned, controlled, or operated WazirX at any time, including before, during, or after the alleged hacking attack.”

(Source: Binance)

Binance also stated, “They (WazirX) are trying to shirk responsibility; this is a disappointing transfer strategy, but it shouldn't distract anyone from the outstanding issues that need to be addressed here. The WazirX team is responsible for the loss of user funds under their management.”

Binance has reiterated that it does not own WazirX despite earlier negotiations to acquire the Indian exchange.

According to the statement: “Binance has never acquired or controlled WazirX, and although the parties have signed a contract, the proposed transaction was never completed due to Zettai's failure to meet its obligations.”

Instead, WazirX is currently owned by Zanmai Labs Pvt Ltd, an Indian company registered with a local regulator. Zanmai is a subsidiary of Zettai, a Singaporean company owned by Shetty.

For this reason, Binance rejected Shetty's suggestion that Zettai's creditors could seek compensation from the platform led by Binance CEO Richard Teng.

Binance emphasized, “In any case, there is no legal basis for claiming that Binance is responsible for Zettai's claim. Any such implication by Shetty is false.”

Binance admits that it previously provided technical solutions and support to the struggling Indian exchange.

However, Binance denied any responsibility for the hack and clarified that after WazirX's funds were removed from their platform, Shetty and Zettai chose Liminal as the escrow provider without Liminal's participation.

Additionally, Binance also stated that it has never been part of the WazirX User Agreement. Although Binance requested that any mention of its name be removed from the agreement, Binance claims that Shetty and Zanmai have repeatedly ignored these requests.

Despite distancing itself from the Indian exchange, Binance revealed that its attempt to help the WazirX team was rejected.

Binance explained in this regard that it was unable to independently verify the hacking incident because its request to report the attack had not been answered.

It stated: “We have asked the WazirX team to provide us with reports on the incident, including all internal reports and the so-called report published by Mandiant on August 14, 2024, detailing the cause of the attack and verification of the amount and proportion of users' funds affected, but these requests remain unanswered.”