- Wazrix has copied Binance and delisted USDC and two other stablecoins
- The Indian exchange announced its intentions over the weekend
- This comes two weeks after Binance, which is affiliated with the exchange, did so
Leading Indian exchange Wazirx has followed Binance’s lead and announced that non-USDT and non-BUSD stablecoins will be auto-converted into BUSD in another blow to Circle’s USDC coin. Wazirx, which has links to Binance, announced yesterday that it will delist USDC, USDP, and TUSD, with all existing funds being converted into BUSD. The move comes two weeks after Binance announced that it was doing the same thing, which Circle boss Jeremy Allaire tried unconvinced to brush off as not a big deal. Now the booming Indian crypto market will get less access to USDC, too.
Wazirx Hand in Glove With Binance
Wazirx posted an announcement to its website yesterday that explained what it was doing but, in a carbon copy of Binance’s announcement earlier this month, gave very little away as to the rationale:
To enhance liquidity and capital efficiency for users, WazirX will implement BUSD Auto-Conversion for users’ existing balances of USDC, USDP, and TUSD stablecoins at a 1:1 ratio.
Whereas Binance was more careful not to state outright that it was delisting the three stablecoins, Wazirx had no such qualms, stating, “WazirX will delist USDC, USDP, and TUSD on 26th September 2022.”
As with Binance, deposits and withdrawals of the three stablecoins will be halted and any remaining balances will be auto-converted into BUSD tokens.
Murky Relationship Becomes Clearer
Wazirx’s relationship with Binance was, until this action, somewhat unclear. Wazirx claims on its website that it is affiliated with the Binance Group, although Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao recently said on Twitter that his exchange had not acquired Wazirx due to payment issues. However, there is clearly a strong link in there, given that Wazirx has copied Binance’s actions (and its announcement), and so we can assume that decisions on Wazirx are, to some extent, coming from Binance.
The news will be another blow to Circle, which is seeing its USDC coin going from Tether competitor to being relegated to the second tier of stablecoins.
