The connection between WazirX-Binance: A timeline of events as they unfolded

livemint.com:

Celebrated in 2019 as the first acquisition in the Indian crypto space, the relationship between the two entities is now in question as the ED has frozen funds of cryptocurrency exchange WazirX.

While the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volumes Binance had proudly announced that it had ‘acquired’ WazirX in a blog post on its website in November 2019, the company’s CEO Changpeng Zhao shocked the Indian crypto exchange and the global crypto community by reneging on the agreement between the two parties.

Amidst an ongoing war of words between WazirX’s founder, Nischal Shetty, and Changpeng Zhao, investors are undoubtedly searching for defining answers about who owns and controls WazirX.

Decoding the 2019 announcement

Replete with a group photograph that showed Zhao and Shetty profusely smiling, the blog post announced WazirX’s acquisition by Binance and detailed how platform users would be able to buy cryptocurrencies using Indian rupees (INR), invest in stablecoins like Tether (USDT) and access the whole range of cryptocurrencies directly through Binance’s trading platforms.

It also explicitly says that the WazirX acquisition and integration is part of the company’s strategy to enhance its growing list of global partners, in an effort to provide the global crypto community with easy access to cryptocurrencies in a fast and secure manner.

Zhao even went further to elaborate on Binance’s commitment to developing the Indian crypto ecosystem and making India a global blockchain innovation center.

Shetty commented on how the acquisition gives WazirX the opportunity to expand beyond India and cater to a wider audience, with a specific focus on developing nations by building fiat on-ramps.

The suspiciously timed