Amid Tax Regulations and Market Volatility, WazirX Shuts Down Its NFT Marketplace
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On Wednesday, WazirX, the Indian bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange, shared its decision to make its non-fungible tokens marketplace void through its website blog, ‘Sunsetting of WazirX NFT Marketplace.‘
“We regret to announce that the WazirX NFT Marketplace has been sunsetted. We are proud to have launched India’s first NFT Marketplace in June 2021, which showcased the work of many creators. Unfortunately, it did not gain much traction,” the official statement read.
Launched in 2021, WazirX NFT Marketplace aimed to easily facilitate the exchange of digital assets and intellectual properties that included tweets, music, art pieces, audio files, and videos to the Indian audience. In December 2021, the marketplace reported having over 962 creators mint 12,600 NFTs and selling 5267 at a whopping amount of about INR 2.4 crores in 2021.
However, the exchange’s decision comes from the 2022 tax implementation of 1 per cent TDS on all Virtual Digital Assets transactions. The global instability in crypto asset prices coupled with FTX’s collapse has also played a significant role.
They have assured its users that they can hold their NFTs in their wallets and have encouraged them to sell their assets on other markets such as OpenSea.
“We created a safe and secure marketplace where creators could showcase and trade their unique digital assets. NFTs are decentralised, and owners have complete control over their assets, which is why they have become so popular. Our users can rest assured that they can continue to hold their NFTs in their wallets, and these can be sold in other marketplaces such as OpenSea. We are proud of the contribution that we have made to the NFT sector in India. We have provided a platform for creators to showcase their talent, and our efforts have helped put the spotlight on many Indian creators. We thank all our users and partners for supporting us throughout our journey,” the blog also read.
Apart from OpenSea, Binance NFT marketplace, Rarible, Jupiter Meta, and Bollycoin are some of the prominent players in the segment.
