Cryptocurrency exchange WazirX on Thursday, October 14 said it received 377 user account requests from law enforcement agencies (including 38 from foreign agencies) in the April-September period this year. The company said that all the legal information requests received were criminal in nature and its compliance rate was 100%. The crypto exchange said it locked 14,469 accounts in the said period.
“Ninety per cent of these activities were user driven (customer requests to close accounts) and 10% were initiated by our legal team who had to lock the concerned accounts due to payment disputes or ongoing investigations for LEA (law enforcement agency) cases,” WazirX said in its first ever transparency report.
WazirX said it remains committed to protecting users’ data and would be issuing bi-annual transparency reports to provide continuous visibility to its users and stakeholders of the law enforcement information requests. “We also plan to share more insightful data in our future reports that would detail the outcome of the initiatives undertaken to self-regulate,” it added.
“Initiatives such as the transparency report add credibility to the ecosystem and make the crypto world look more appealing to outsiders. We aim to look at the bigger goals like positive regulations and consider ourselves paving the way to it through innovative approaches,” said Nischal Shetty, CEO and Founder, WazirX.
WazirX is part of the Binance group, which is the world’s largest crypto exchange, serving users in 180 countries. More than $6.6 billion investments have been made in crypto assets by retail investors in India to date. The industry provides employment for 50,000 individuals in India, with more than 230 startups and over 150 proof of concepts and projects.
According to a recent Nasscom report, the cryptotech industry has grown by 39% in the last five years in India. The industry will reach $241 million by 2030 in India, and $2.3 billion by 2026 globally.
(With IANS inputs)