[Update]: Founder Nishchal Shetty tweeted on Friday replying to the news, “If I intend to, YOU will hear it from me first, and not from “sources”,” Reports had claimed that WazirX founders Shetty and Siddharth Menon are stepping away from active operations.
Getting queries if I’m transitioning out of WazirX. If I intend to, YOU will hear it from me first, and not from “sources”
It’s not zero or one, but zero and one ✌️#BuildForCrypto #Decentralization #Crypto
— Nischal (Shardeum) ⚡️ (@NischalShetty) February 16, 2022
WazirX, India’s top cryptocurrency exchange, is preparing for a transformation, funded by Binance. Nischal Shetty and Siddharth Menon, two of the company’s co-founders, have stepped away from day-to-day operations to focus on their new ventures, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Both co-founders have stepped away from active operations and will only be involved in advisory capacities. Menon will remain in a supporting role while Shetty has stepped away from day-to-day operations. Sameer Mhatre, the third co-founder and CTO, will remain in his existing position for the time being. Moneycontrol first reported the development.
WazirX’s adjustments come at a time when competition is heating up, with rivals like CoinDCX and Coinswitch becoming unicorns, even as the regulatory landscape remains unclear. On the future of private cryptocurrencies in India, the government and the central bank are giving mixed messages.
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According to one of the sources listed above, global cryptocurrency exchange Binance, which purchased WazirX in 2019, may consider forming a management team to monitor its operations since the rivalry among crypto exchanges in India has heated up in the previous year, with crypto usage skyrocketing. Coinswitch, CoinDCX, Unocoin, Zebpay, and Bitbns are among WazirX’s Indian competitors.
Apart from regulatory uncertainties, the newly imposed 30% tax on private virtual assets announced in the recent Budget is projected to reduce trade volumes, putting even more pressure on the industry. T Rabi Sankar, the RBI’s Deputy Governor, has stated that banning cryptocurrency is “perhaps the most advisable choice available to India.” Prior to that, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that bitcoin poses a threat to India’s financial stability and that investors who bet on it do so at their own risk.
Shetty announced earlier this month that he is collaborating with blockchain architect Omar Syed on a Layer-1 blockchain network called “Shardeum,” which is an EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine)-compatible sharded blockchain.
Other Layer-1 Blockchains, like Ethereum and Solana, will compete with this initiative. According to industry analysts, Building Layer 1 is one of the most challenging areas because it necessitates the creation of an entire ecosystem on top of it, while the other Blockchains are already well ahead.
On February 15, Menon announced the debut of Tegro, a Web3 gaming ecosystem marketplace, and SuperGaming, a game development firm. This news follows SuperGaming’s appointment of Menon as an adviser for its Web3 activities. Tegro, on the other hand, will function independently.
Responding to a query, a WazirX spokesperson said, “Nischal Shetty launched a breakthrough open-sourced blockchain project, Shardeum. This decentralised project is Nischal’s further foray into the blockchain sector, over and above his role of being at the helm of WazirX.”
Shetty said, “Shardeum is an open-source project, and I am dividing my time between both the projects currently.”
Menon will now be completely working on his latest gaming startup. “Siddharth sees this as a natural extension of his role in contributing to and furthering the crypto landscape. He will continue to be associated with WazirX in a passive capacity for now,” said the WazirX spokesperson.
“The lock-in period for the founders was two years. Since it was a 100 percent acquisition, the founders didn’t have any value left. This move was quite expected,” stated one person familiar with the matter.
Shetty and Menon co-founded Crowdfire, a platform for content producers, before starting WazirX. Menon is a serial entrepreneur who, in addition to CrowdFire, has co-founded companies such as JustMigrate, a blogging platform, and others.
