Namaste Tribe! 🙏
A lot has changed at WazirX over the past year. From WazirX ZERO and Futures to WazirX AI and continued platform improvements, the focus has remained on rebuilding and strengthening the WazirX experience.
These changes have also raised important questions from the community.
In our latest live AMA, WazirX Founder Nischal Shetty answered questions gathered from the community, covering platform security, recovery efforts, Futures trading, WazirX AI, and what’s next.
You can watch the full conversation here:
And, here’s a breakdown of everything that’s covered:
Security and Custody: What Has Changed?
One of the biggest changes has been to WazirX’s custody infrastructure.
At the time of the cyberattack, WazirX relied on a third-party solution to custody its cold wallets, which became the attack’s entry point.WazirX has since moved its wallets to BitGo, one of the largest crypto custody providers in the world, publicly listed in the US, and trusted by major players in the industry. WazirX is also integrating Fireblocks.
While the internal infrastructure wasn’t the point of failure in the attack, the platform has strengthened internal security processes through third-party audits and improvements to code development and infrastructure practices as an added layer of protection.
The broader approach is to rely on specialized infrastructure providers for custody while the WazirX team focuses on trading, product development, support, and the overall platform experience.
Frozen INR: What Is The Current Status?
The remaining frozen INR was one of the biggest concerns raised by the community.
Specifically, around 34% of INR balances remain frozen. The rest is already accessible. The INR remains in WazirX’s bank account but is frozen while the legal process continues. There is currently no confirmed release date, including the claims that 34% of INR would be released on September 14.
In parallel, WazirX has started releasing funds in phases where possible. A first tranche has already been released to a portion of users with smaller balances.
For users who have not yet received an email regarding a release, there is no fixed ETA. Progress depends on factors including the ongoing legal process, while increased liquidity and future business revenues could also help support further phased releases.
Recovery Tokens: How Do They Work?
Recovery Tokens, or RTs, have already been issued and are visible in eligible users’ wallets.
Their core purpose is to represent each eligible creditor’s share in future profit distributions. When profits are generated and a distribution is made, the number of RTs held would determine that user’s proportion of the distribution.
Will Recovery Tokens Be Tradable?
A potential listing of Recovery Tokens has been discussed, but there are no immediate plans to list them.
A listing would make sense only if there is sufficient demand, supply, and liquidity. For now, the priority is to grow trading activity across the platform and build the business.
If market conditions improve and meaningful liquidity can be supported, an RT listing could be considered later.
When Will RT Holders Start Receiving Value?
There is no specific buyback date or amount yet.
Futures has started generating revenue, while monthly trading volumes and the number of Futures traders have been increasing. However, the product is still relatively new and has not yet reached the level required to generate substantial profits. Futures trading also requires significantly higher volume than Spot to generate the same revenue, since WazirX has kept its Futures fees among the lowest in the industry.
The longer-term objective is to continue growing the business and generating profits, with RTs serving as the mechanism through which value can eventually be distributed to creditors.
How Is WazirX Improving Spot Liquidity?
Spot liquidity, particularly in INR markets, is still not where the team wants it to be.
After an extended pause, many active daily traders had naturally moved to other platforms. Rebuilding that activity takes time. Many long-term holders, however, stayed on WazirX throughout, continuing to hold and invest in their portfolios.
USDT Spot markets currently have comparatively stronger liquidity, while INR liquidity remains thinner. WazirX is working to bring more active traders back and attract new trading activity.
Part of the liquidity gap is also a structural, India-wide issue. TDS has reduced daily spot trading activity across the industry, not just on WazirX.
WazirX ZERO, with zero WazirX Spot trading fees for eligible users, is also intended to make trading more economical and encourage genuine market activity. Other platforms typically charge trading fees ranging from 0.1% to 5%. On WazirX, trading fees are completely zero, meaning the only cost on a sale is the 1% TDS deduction, which can be claimed back when filing taxes.
Spot liquidity has already improved compared with the restart period, and the focus is to continue improving it over time.
Futures: Making Trading Simpler
How Is Futures Different From Spot?
Spot and Futures serve different purposes.
With Spot trading, users buy or sell an asset directly. Futures introduces additional concepts such as margin, leverage, Take-Profit, Stop-Loss and liquidation.
That added complexity can make Futures more difficult for first-time traders, which is why WazirX is working to simplify the experience through product improvements, education, and tools such as WazirX AI. Nischal has acknowledged that even he finds Futures complicated, describing himself as more comfortable with the simplicity of Spot trading.
How Is WazirX Improving the Futures Experience?
The team is closely studying how users interact with Futures and using those insights to guide improvements.
One area highlighted during the AMA was risk management. Take-Profit and Stop-Loss were considered important enough to be part of the product from launch, but actual usage showed that only a relatively small percentage of traders were actively using them.
That behavior is helping shape both product improvements and educational efforts around Futures.
What About Futures Fees and Growth?
WazirX Futures fees were described during the AMA as being among the lowest in the industry.
Keeping fees low was a deliberate decision to help users get more value from the product as trading activity grows.
Futures volumes and the number of traders have been increasing month over month, but the product is still relatively new. While it is generating revenue, it has not yet reached a level where it is producing substantial profits.
WazirX AI: Making Crypto Research Easier
WazirX AI was built partly in response to the complexity many users face when researching and trading, especially in Futures.
What Can WazirX AI Do?
WazirX AI can help with crypto research, including identifying tokens, analyzing charts, and researching potential trading opportunities.
Nischal also shared how he uses it himself: asking the AI to identify tokens based on specific criteria, compare them, and help interpret the available information.
The aim is not to predict the market. Nischal explicitly acknowledged that AI cannot always be right and that no one can predict markets with certainty.
Instead, the goal is to reduce the time and complexity involved in research. A process that might otherwise take 20–30 minutes could potentially be shortened to around 5–10 minutes.
Can WazirX AI Place a Futures Trade?
WazirX AI can assist with the trading flow, but it does not execute a trade without the user’s explicit approval. Once the AI has completed its research and prepared a trade, it prompts the user to approve it. The final decision always remains with the user.
How Will WazirX AI Evolve?
Two areas are currently being worked on: accessibility and research quality.
WazirX AI is currently available for free, while the team continues exploring ways to optimize the cost of running AI models and maximize the free experience. The team is also working to improve how the AI identifies, evaluates, and ranks different information sources so the research becomes deeper and more useful over time.
What Else Is WazirX Building?
Is Staking Coming to WazirX?
The team wants to explore staking, but it is not currently among the highest-priority features.
The team prioritizes features based on user demand and potential impact. Futures was prioritized first, followed by WazirX AI, while staking has not yet moved high enough on the roadmap. It could be revisited in a future quarter depending on demand and development bandwidth.
What Is Coming Next?
The immediate focus is not on launching another major standalone product. Instead, the priority is to continue improving Futures and WazirX AI, while also strengthening areas such as compliance and the overall user experience.
The broader approach remains straightforward: build based on what users are asking for and how they are actually using the platform.
Rapid Fire With Nischal ⚡
The AMA ended on a lighter note.
A crypto term you wish people would stop overusing?
“Partnerships.”
There was a time when almost every project announced a new partnership and the announcement itself became a reason for excitement. That era, according to Nischal, should probably come to an end.
A crypto phrase you would like to see return?
“Wen moon.”
With one caveat: preferably around legitimate projects rather than everything in the market.
Would a younger Nischal have used leverage if Futures existed when he started?
Maybe, but his present-day answer was much more cautious. He described Futures as something he is still learning himself and emphasized that it is not for everyone.
If your leadership style were an animal?
A lion.
One word for what comes next for WazirX?
Growth.
Disclaimer: Click Here to read the Disclaimer.
