Indian Exchange WazirX Shuts Down NFT Marketplace
- Indian crypto exchange WazirX has officially announced the closure of its NFT platform due to low number of users in India.
- The company confirmed that it had collected only $6 as fee from the transactions on the platform while it paid thousands of dollars in service fee.
- Ihe last 30 days, the number of active wallets that the NFT platform saw was 71 while the number of transactions was just around 354.
- Crypto community on Twitter believes that the exchange initiated a zero-notice rug-pull on the users of its NFT platform.
A prominent crypto exchange in India, WazirX, has announced that it will shut down its NFT marketplace amid a downtrend in investment in NFTs and a decline in the trading volume of these blockchain-based assets. Interestingly, the social media believes this to be a zero-notice rug pull that has been initiated by the crypto company which has been facing a tough time since the 2021 market bull run.
According to a message shared by WazirX, the NFT platform did not receive the traffic that the executives expected which led to the decision of its closure. It is crucial to note that several NFT collections have dropped significantly from the sky-high valuations that they achieved during the 2021 market bull run. Furthermore, on-chain data reveals that many NFT marketplaces are struggling to operate.
“It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that our platform has closed due to low volume and traction. We understand that this news may come as a shock and disappointment to many of you who have invested your time, creativity, and passion into our platform. We want to take a moment to tell you how much we appreciate your continued support,” said WazirX in the message.
According to the data shared by WazirX for the last 30 days, the number of active wallets that the NFT platform saw was 71, while the number of transactions was just around 354. Additionally, the trading volume in the last 30 days witnessed by the NFT platform was around $112.24, which is negligent compared to what the prominent NFT marketplaces in the industry have seen in the past 30 days.
It is also crucial to note that WazirX confirmed that the total fee collected by the crypto exchange via its NFT platform was around $6 while the company’s server costs are collected in thousands of dollars.
“We understand that this closure may bring up a range of emotions, but we want you to know that we share these emotions with you. We believe in the power of NFTs and the transformative potential they hold for creators, collectors, and communities alike,” said WazirX.
On the other hand, the official website of the NFT platform of WazirX also read a note stating, “We are proud to have launched India’s first NFT Marketplace in June 2021, which showcased the work of many creators. Unfortunately, it did not gain much traction.”
Furthermore, as per the report from Inc42, WazirX NFTs have 52,253 items for sale on OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace.
As reported earlier by BitcoinWisdom, the affiliations between WazirX and the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, ended after a battle between the bosses of the two exchanges on social media platform Twitter. Last year in August, Binance ended support of the off-chain fund transfer channel with the local Indian exchange and, hence, cut ties with it.
Additionally, the regulators in the region also seized assets belonging to the local exchange as a part of their investigation of an alleged violation of foreign exchange policies. According to the financial regulator, WazirX’s frozen assets were worth 646.70 million rupees ($8.16 million).
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
