Employees from business development, policy, growth, and marketing were impacted, they added.
“If someone like WazirX can do this, then anything can happen in the crypto industry and smaller players in India,” a former employee said on the condition of anonymity. “We need to put our minds to it and decide if we want to stay in the crypto industry or not,” the 32-year-old employee, who was laid off after two years with the company, added.
During the crypto bull run of 2021, WazirX was India’s largest exchange by volume, clocking trades of $43 billion in the calendar year.
However, the trading volumes — crypto exchanges earn revenue by charging trading fees —
dipped by up to 90%, ET reported on April 12, after a new tax regime kicked in from April 1.
Layoffs by crypto companies have loomed large amid a market crash and falling prices of cryptocurrencies. Indian employees of other crypto exchanges including Coinbase and Vauld have also been laid off in recent months.
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WazirX has been hit hard by tax regulations – that have all but decimated crypto trading – as well as troubles with the world’s largest exchange by volume Binance.
“WazirX is one of the biggest exchanges in the industry; ever since things soured with Binance, the entire company collapsed,” another former employee said.
In August, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), CEO and founder of Binance,
said that his company did not purchase any equity in WazirX’s parent company Zanmai Lab, three years after the acquisition was announced.
This came amid searches by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on one of the directors of Zanmai Lab, which operates WazirX.
ED issued a freeze order on its bank accounts worth Rs 64.67 crore. The bank accounts have since been unfrozen.
According to a former employee, the souring of the relationship with Binance has also had financial implications for the crypto exchange.
While ET could not ascertain the financial arrangement between the two, one source said that WazirX is in survival mode, depending solely on profits generated from trading.
WazirX did not comment on this.
Former and current employees of the company have come together on a Telegram group “WazirX Mafia” to help those who have been fired find other jobs.
ET has reviewed the screenshots of the messages on the group, where members are posting job openings.
The crypto market has been in the grip of a bear run because of the current global economic slowdown. The Indian crypto industry has had its unique problems with respect to taxes, regulations, and banking access. This has led to a dramatic fall in volumes in all Indian crypto exchanges, said a WazirX spokesperson in a statement.
“As India’s no 1 exchange, our priority is to be financially stable and to continue serving our customers. To achieve this, we’ve had to reduce our staff to weather the crypto winter,” the spokesperson said, adding that the situation was similar to the trying times the industry had faced in 2018.
“The crypto industry operates in cycles and the bear market is inevitably followed by a spectacular bull market. We will continue to focus on our customer needs and continue to build. We are confident that we will come out stronger when the bull market arrives,” the spokesperson said.
