WazirX co-founders shifting base to Dubai

While co-founders Nischal Shetty and Siddharth Menon have shifted base to Dubai, WazirX will continue to operate from its Mumbai headquarters

By Shashank Bhardwaj

(From left) Sameer Mhatre, Nischal Shetty and Siddharth Menon of WazirX

The co-founders of the leading Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX, Nischal Shetty, and Siddharth Menon, have become the latest Indian crypto entrepreneurs to shift base to Dubai. Shetty and Menon have reportedly shifted with their families, however, the exchange’s operations are expected to continue from its Mumbai headquarters.

On the development, the company said, “We are a remote-first organisation with employees in over 70 locations. This gives all the company employees the option to work from anywhere, subject to their comfort and convenience unless they are required to travel officially. WazirX is headquartered in Mumbai, and there is no change in any of our operating procedures. It is business as usual." Currently, all the employees of the Binance-backed exchange work remotely. The third co-founder of the exchange, who is also its CTO, Sameer Mhatre, will continue to lead the exchange from India.

In February, Shetty had joined hands with US-based crypto Innovator Omar Sayed to work on a blockchain project called Shardeum, and Menon revealed his plans of launching Tegro, a Web3-based gaming ecosystem and marketplace, in collaboration with game development company SuperGaming.

WazirX moving its headquarters to Dubai is a significant development in the wake of the Indian government imposing a 30 percent crypto tax and 1 percent TDS [Tax Deducted at Source] on all virtual digital assets [VDAs] from April 1 this year. The tax imposition has caused trading volumes to drop across all crypto exchanges in India. Indian crypto investors aren’t allowed to set off their losses against the profits from VDAs. Indian government’s stance also extends to crypto mining.

The move has been highly criticised by industry players, and several crypto entrepreneurs have shifted their base to other crypto-friendly jurisdictions even though the cost of setting up business in these countries is high. ZebPay and Vauld had moved their headquarters back in 2018, while other crypto exchanges like CoinSwitch Kuber and CoinDCX are headquartered in Singapore. While the India-born Polygon shifted to Dubai, Mudrex shifted its base to the US.

Countries like the US, Singapore, Cayman Islands, Mauritius, Dubai, that have legalised cryptocurrencies. Dubai recently passed its first crypto law in 2022.

The writer is the founder at yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist. Twitter: @bhardwajshash

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