WazirX Clarifies Its Head Office Will Remain in Mumbai as Founders’ Dubai Travels Stir Rumours

The headquarter of Indian WazirX is and will remain in Mumbai and is not shifting base to Dubai. The clarification from crypto exchange has come after some recent media reports suggested that WazirX founders Nischal Shetty and Siddharth Menon have made a move outside India. The rumours were immediately linked to India's recently imposed tax laws on virtual digital assets and how that may have affected the ease of conducting business from the country for the WazirX leadership. The company has rubbished all such speculations.

“The founders keep traveling, yes, but WazirX has not moved to Dubai. We're headquartered in India and continue operating that way, there's no change for us,” a company official familiar with the matter told Gadgets 360.

The crypto exchange, founded in 2018, is anyway prioritising remote-working for its employees, giving them a chance to work from anywhere in the world.

The company has employees working remotely from over 70 different locations, it claimed in a statement shared on Twitter clearly stating that the company sees no operational changes at all for now.

Rumour mills began churning after certain media reports claimed that both Shetty and Menon have shifted to Dubai with their respective families.

Since Dubai recently rolled out laws supporting the growth and development of the crypto industry, it apparently gave the impression that WazirX could soon shift its base to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Several big crypto firms including Binance are establishing their offices in UAE regions like Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

The WazirX official, who wished to remain unnamed, declined to comment on the residency locations of company founders, highlighting that “it does not impact WazirX in any way”.

The Indian crypto community is maintaining a keen eye on cryptopreneurs who are looking to flock to the UAE with their operations now that tax laws have gone into effect in India. Presently, incomes earned via crypto trading are subjected to a 30 percent tax deduction in India along with additional TDS cuts.

Polygon, which is a popular blockchain network developed by Indians for instance, has no offices in India.

In March, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal had said that India's lack of regularity and clarity around the crypto sector is leading to a “crazy brain drain” from the Indian crypto sector.

Nailwal himself, reportedly relocated to Dubai two years ago.

While India is still awaiting its core crypto laws, the country has brought the digital assets industry under its tax regime starting April 1.

India is also not looking to offer tax relaxations or incentives to crypto players who will invest in setting up and maintaining the crypto ecosystem in the country.

Several industry insiders have urged the government to take a softer approach towards the crypto community given that it is promising as well as just up and coming.