WazirX Review
The information provided on this page is for educational purposes only and is not intended as investment advice, an endorsement of a cryptocurrency, or a recommendation to trade or use any services. We may receive compensation from our partners if you visit their website. Read our disclaimer for details.
With strict crypto regulations in India, WazirX is one of the only approved fiat to crypto exchanges to invest in Bitcoin and other altcoins with Indian Rupees (INR). In this review, we take a look at WazirX which is a cryptocurrency exchange that was acquired by Binance to offer an innovative platform to buy and sell digital assets from India. The methodology used to assess WazirX will include creating an account, depositing funds, purchasing Bitcoin and withdrawing funds.
Our Take
Bottom line:
WazirX is one of the few compliant crypto exchanges for residents of India, it offers only basic features, poor customer service, and the mobile app is not well-liked by its customers. It also charges deposit and withdrawal fees using INR and does not have great liquidity for experienced traders. WazirX may be the only option for some users, but it is not one of the best exchanges to use as the exchange lacks advanced features and tools for serious crypto traders.
Promotion:- Crypto exchange based in India with rapid KYC
- Reasonable liquidity across INR trading pairs
- Variety of INR payment options using a bank account
- Competitive spot trading fees
- iOS and Android supported mobile app
- Not suitable for experienced or professional traders
- Lack of features such as dollar cost averaging and staking
- Does not appear to be adding new features regularly
- No leveraged markets available for traders
- Terrible customer support and negative reviews
WazirX Overview
WazirX was founded to provide a safe and trustworthy crypto exchange in India to buy and sell Bitcoin with direct pairings to the Indian Rupee (INR). The exchange was launched in March 2018 and is based in Mumbai, India. The team is led by an experienced group that comprises Nischal Shetty, Sameer MhatreEx, and Siddharth Menon.
WazirX is one of the most popular options to buy crypto in India due to the wide variety of deposit methods and competitive fees of 0.2% per transaction. The exchange has branched out to support over 200 different altcoins that can be traded on the exchange or Peer-to-Peer platform. However, the exchange has received poor reviews and ratings from its customers in recent months.
Some of the most notable features on the WazirX platform are listed below:
- Trusted Bitcoin & cryptocurrency exchange that is available in India
- Beginner-friendly, clean and simple user interface to buy/sell crypto
- Direct crypto pairs with INR such as BTC/INR and ETH/INR
- Competitive 0.2% spot trading fee
- Peer-to-peer crypto exchange available
- Available mobile app for iOS and Android devices
WazirX At A Glance
| Exchange Name | Wazirx |
|---|---|
| Fiat Currency | INR |
| Deposit Method | UPI, IMPS, NEFT & RTGS |
| Cryptocurrency | Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether and 200 others |
| Trading Fee | 0.2% |
| INR Deposit Fee | Between 4 to 5.9 INR per deposit |
| INR Withdrawal Fee | 10 - 20 INR per withdrawal |
| Mobile App | Yes (Android and iOS) |
Review of the Top Features on WazirX
WazirX User Interface & Trading Platform
WazirX offers a clean, minimal, and simplistic user interface that will suit beginner traders and investors. Unlike your traditional margin crypto trading exchanges, there are no advanced charting tools or indicators. For those who are familiar with technical analysis, using the WazirX charts is probably not the right option. In this case, traders are better off using WazirX in conjunction with a top crypto charting site to analyze the live crypto prices.
When it comes to placing orders, there are only limit and stop-limit orders available. This means users can’t buy at market price (probably due to liquidity issues) and the order books are basic, at best. Overall, the WazirX user interface is strictly suited to beginners or users that just prefer a simple and easy-to-use crypto exchange to buy Bitcoins. Advanced traders will not find the tools they are looking for and should seek an alternative such as Binance.
Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Trading
WazirX offers P2P trading, where users can trade directly with other users. This allows users to find the best price for the crypto they wish to purchase and negotiate and trade directly with other users. WazirX acts as a matching engine to match buyers and sellers, as well as the escrow for the trade, ensuring both parties honor the transaction.
Related: What is Bitcoin escrow and how does it work?
P2P trades are not charged any fees by WazirX, and prices are set by the sellers directly. The only crypto currently available for P2P trading is USDT, making it a very limited use case when compared to the better crypto P2Ps in the industry.
WazirX Token (WRX)
The WazirX token (WRX) is available to be purchased with no trading fees on the WazirX platform. It comes with a few benefits, such as trading fee discounts and potential access to airdrops, but the utility was never really expanded beyond that. There were promises of WRX mining rewards, margin discounts, and other benefits, but since the crypto winter has set in, this is no longer the case.
Trading Volume & Liquidity
WazirX processes about $1 million in daily spot trading volume, which is a low volume compared to most other crypto exchanges. The liquidity score of WazirX is 316 (out of 1,000), which is also very low. This means that users placing large orders may end up paying higher prices due to excess slippage, making the spread fees possibly much higher than other exchanges. However, these figures should take into account the direct BTC/INR trading pairs which would have lower trading volume than BTC/USDT on international exchanges.
Wazirx Compared
Advanced features, an intuitive user interface and a mobile trading app are important features of WazirX. This comparison table lists other top-rated crypto exchanges that offer world-class features.
| Exchange | Crypto Assets | Trading Fees | Rating | Promotion | Website | Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Binance | 385 | 0.1% (spot) and 0.02% / 0.04% (Futures) | Rating | Up to $100 welcome bonus | Visit Binance | Binance Review |
 ByBit | 331 (608 trading pairs) | 0% (spot), 0.06% / 0.01% (futures) | Rating | 0% trading fees for 30 days (spot only) | Visit ByBit | ByBit Review |
 Coinbase | 241 | 0.4% (maker), 0.6% (taker) | Rating | $5 BTC bonus (USA only) | Visit Coinbase | Coinbase Review |
 KuCoin | 806 | 0.1% | Rating | Up to 500 USDT in bonuses | Visit KuCoin | KuCoin Review |
Is WazirX Safe?
Launched in 2018, Wazirx has become a trustworthy and safe trading platform for customers in India and internationally to buy, trade and sell over 200 digital assets. Wazirx was acquired in late 2019 by the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance which is a reputable and trusted exchange in the blockchain space. The partnership between Wazirx and Binance allows users to log into WazirX via Binance and use the trading platform or P2P (no fees) to cash in and cash out of crypto back into INR. However, the exchange has had financial issues and has been laying off staff in recent weeks.
As for security, there is little information on what security practices WazirX employs to secure the site, online wallets and process withdrawals. In the absence of this information, users that use WazirX should move their cryptocurrency to a hardware wallet instead of storing it on the exchange.
In fact, Wazirx should consider moving to a cold wallet solution that is secured by multi-layer encryption and kept on offline digital hardware storage devices. This would go a long way to demonstrating to WazirX's users it is a safe and legit crypto exchange.
Identity Verification Requirements
To withdraw funds and trade on the WazirX P2P exchange, you need to submit the following information to complete the KYC process:
- Basic personal information (date, date of birth, address etc)
- PAN card details
- Upload identity document (e.g. passport or driver's license)
The process is partially automated and only takes a few minutes to complete. It is to protect the exchange and investors against anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing.
Fiat Deposits & Withdrawals
WazirX only allows deposits of Indian Rupees (INR), which makes sense as the exchange is only available to residents of India. Users can deposit funds via UPI, IMPS, NEFT & RTGS from supported banks. Due to regulations, there may be transfer fees applied to deposits, which can vary.
Withdrawals can be made from the platform, but carry a fee of 10 - 20 INR, depending on the method used. There is also a minimum withdrawal of 500 INR from the platform. No other fiat currencies are supported.
Wazirx Fees
WazirX charges maker fees and taker fees that depend on the type of order placed by the user. WazirX fee is 0.02% for limit and conditional orders (Taker) and 0.02% for market orders that fill (Maker). Purchasing the native token, WRK, comes with zero trading fees.
The deposit fees for transferring fiat currency into WazirX depend on the selected deposit method. If you choose to use the fast deposit method UPI, there is no deposit charge and takes approximately 15 minutes to process.
Users should be aware that crypto withdrawals from WazirX will carry a network fee that is charged when you withdraw from the exchange. This fee is determined by the blockchain load. You can check out the withdrawal fees on the WazirX fees page for each cryptocurrency.
WazirX Mobile App
WazirX has a mobile app available for both Android and iOS. Users can trade on the app, as well as deposit and withdrawal INR. The app has a lot of downloads and high ratings, but due to the low trading volume on the platform, it’s safe to say most users are not still using the app. On the Android marketplace, the WazirX mobile shows over 10 million downloads and 641,000 reviews, at an average of 4.1 / 5 rating. But the latest user reviews show many one-star reviews, and complaints that the app crashes and simply does not function well.
Customer Support
WazirX has a poor track record when it comes to providing customer support. The exchange has an overall star rating of 2.0/5 based on 123 customer reviews on Trustpilot. The recent comments refer to the terrible level of service provided by the support team on issues such as missing deposit, lost funds and terrible user experience (UX). There are no responses by WazirX support team to each individual comment which is also a red flag.
Frequently Asked Questions
WazirX is supported in India and is not available to users in other locations. It complies with national and local jurisdictions, allowing residents of India to trade crypto without worrying about violating the law.
WRX tokens can be found on many exchanges, with Binance being the most popular based on trading volumes. U.S residents can make an account and buy WRX tokens with USDT, BUSD or BTC. The alternative place to buy WRX with USD is FTX Exchange.
WazirX is only available to India residents, and U.S. users are not allowed to create an account or use the exchange. Since all trading on the platform requires passing KYC, U.S. users cannot create a user account or trade on the platform.
Final Verdict and Rating
To summarize our review, WazirX has made it easier for Indians to purchase Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It has a strong list of features and an excellent peer-to-peer trading exchange to make it easy to buy, trade and sell Bitcoins using the local INR currency. However, the recent comments on reputable websites on poor customer service and overall experience using the platform are a major concern.
| Review Criteria | HedgewithCrypto Rating |
|---|---|
| Features | 3.5 / 5 |
| Supported Fiat and Deposit Methods | 3.2 / 5 |
| Supported Crypto & Trading Pairs | 4.2 / 5 |
| Fees | 4.5 / 5 |
| Ease of Use | 4.6 / 5 |
| Customer support | 2.9 / 5 |
| Security Measures | 4.3 / 5 |
| Mobile App | 4 / 5 |
Related articles
Bittrex Review
Poloniex Review
MEXC Review
Gate.io Review
