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Exchange Review

WazirX


Exchange Fees

BTC Withdrawal Fee 0.0006 Taker Fee 0.20% Maker Fee 0.20%

Deposit Methods

Yes Wire Transfer No Credit Card


WazirX is an Indian crypto exchange, launched on 8 March 2018. It is run by Nischal Shetty, Sameer Mhatre and Siddharth Menon. In late 2019 (21 November 2019), WazirX announced in an email to its users that it had been acquired by Binance. This made WazirX the first Indian crypto trading platform to ever be acquired by an international trading platform, further erasing national boundaries between players in the crypto world.

On the date of last updating this review (19 January 2023), the 24 hour spot trading volume of WazirX was USD 4.3 million. This is not very much, and it only placed WazirX on place no. 159 in Coinmarketcap.com's list of the exchanges in the world with the highest 24 hour spot trading volumes. There is definitely room for improvement here for WazirX... 

WazirX Initial Promo Pic

This review page is more than a 1,000 words. We get it. Sometimes you don't want to read, just watch and listen. In that case, it's our honor to present a 2 minute and 31 seconds long tutorial on how to use WazirX (audio in English):

If you're interested in passive income, you'll be pleased to know that WazirX also has an affiliate program. Through this program, you will earn 50% (not up to 50%, but actually 50%) of all your friends' generated trading fees. 50% is a very competitive level relative to the industry standards. Payouts are made every 24 hours and there is no cap on how many referrals you can refer or how much money you can make. 

You can become a part of the program here.

WazirX Affiliate Program

WazirX proudly states the following six factors as their main advantages. First, they claim that they have "best in class security". Second, they mean that they have "super fast KYC" with top of the line identity verification processes. Third, lightning speed transactions. The science nerd will be delighted to learn, or at least have us repeat, that the actual speed of lightning is 3 million kilometers per hour, but we get it, transactions are fast here. Fourth, WazirX has a platform that's compatible with most devices you might have. Fifth, they state that they have a simple and efficient design. Sixth and finally, the platform states that it has been built by blockchain believers. Not bad.

WazirX Advantages

Many exchanges charge what we call taker fees, from the takers (people grabbing deals from the order book), and what we call maker fees, from the makers (people creating orders in the order book that are not immediately matched with a corresponding order). The main alternative to this is to simply charge “flat” fees. Flat fees mean that the exchange charges the taker and the maker the same fee.

WazirX charges a flat fee of 0.20% per trade. This is slightly above the global industry average for takers and slightly below for makers. The global industry average spot trading fees are 0.2294% for takers and 0.1854% for makers according to this empirical study.

What about withdrawal fees then? Withdrawal fees vary depending upon which crypto asset you are withdrawing, but they are normally a fixed amount of the relevant crypto asset and not percentage-based as the trading fees. The industry average BTC-withdrawal fee is 0.0004599 BTC according to the abovementioned empirical study.

WazirX charges a withdrawal fee amounting to 0.0006 BTC per BTC withdrawal, so slightly above average on this. 

Every trading platform has a trading view. The trading view is the part of the exchange’s website where you can see the price chart of a certain cryptocurrency and what its current price is. There are normally also buy and sell boxes, where you can place orders with respect to the relevant crypto, and, at most platforms, you will also be able to see the order history (i.e., previous transactions involving the relevant crypto). Everything in the same view on your desktop. There are of course also variations to what we have now described.

This is the standard trading view at WazirX, obtained on 19 January 2023:

WazirX New Trading View

WazirX has an NFT marketplace available on its platform. You can buy and sell NFTs here. This marketplace is also integrated with Metamask, where you can store your NFTs.

The platform also offers frequent NFT airdrops. Holders of certain cryptos automatically receive NFTs during these events.

WazirX NFT Marketplace

This is a large and trusted exchange. Plus, they are owned by Binance, perhaps the world’s most trusted and known cryptocurrency exchange. In terms of security, this name goes a long way. Plus, you can keep your account safe by activating two-factor authentication (2FA). This way only someone with access to your password, and your mobile phone or email would be able to access your account.

When it comes to deposit methods, WazirX allows wire transfer deposits but not credit card deposits. Allowing fiat currency deposits at all makes WazirX a so called "entry-level exchange", meaning an exchange where new crypotcurrency investors can take their first trembling steps into the thrilling crypto world.

According to the platform itself, they are "for everyone". And we guess that could potentially be true. The platform allows 8 different fiat currencies as currency preferences in the platform's interface: INR (Indian Rupee), IDR (Indonesian Rupiah), RUB (Russian Ruble), UAH (Ukrainian Hryvnia), NGN (Nigerian Naira), SAR (Saudi Riyal), EUR (Euro) and TRY (Turkish Lira). The observant reader will note that the US dollar is not a reference currency, and this is because US investors are not allowed.

Wazirx Review

FAQs

Are WazirX's fees high?

WazirX charges a flat fee of 0.20% per order executed on their platform. This fee is quite in line with the industry average.

What is the minimum deposit on WazirX?

To our knowledge, WazirX has no minimum deposit requirements. They do however have minimum order sizes, being 0.0001 BTC per order (at the date of writing this text, 15 February 2023, corresponding to USD 2.20).

How long is the withdrawal time at WazirX?

According to the exchange, the withdrawal time when withdrawing crypto assets from WazirX is 30-60 minutes.

Has WazirX ever been hacked?

As of the date of answering this question, 15 February 2023, WazirX has never been hacked.

Is WazirX secure?

We have no reason to question the security at WazirX. Accordingly, we view it as a secure platform.

Where is WazirX based?

WazirX is based in India, with headquarters in Mumbai.

Which countries are restricted from using WazirX?

WazirX does not allow users from any country subject to international sanctions, whether under OFAC-sanctions or EU-sanctions. Accordingly, to our understanding, users from any of the following countries are blocked from creating an account with WazirX: Afghanistan, Central African Republic, China, Congo, Cuba, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Myanmar, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Venezuela, Yemen and Zimbabwe.